My Own Way
by xcbambidx
Summary: Emma Queenscove, daughter of Neal & Yuki, is a new doctor in L.A. She is determined to make it in the medical world by herself, without relying on her family name, so she interns at Mercy General, instead of at her family’s own hospital. Modern Day AU
1. Not Easy on the Top

**My Own Way**

_Rollercoasters_

_Holy roller_

_I got shot down_

_In Southern California_

_And it ain't easy being on top, no no  
And you're up with the stars  
And it ain't easy being on top, no no  
With higher society  
And it ain't easy being on top, no no  
You're on top of the world, yeah_

_Are you having a good time?_

Disclaimer: I own nothing. It all belongs to Tamora Pierce_

* * *

_

My alarm clock went off with a loud buzzing sound at five thirty A.M. I groaned, flipped over onto my stomach and then pounded my fist hard on the off button.

_Stupid alarm clock…_ I thought grumpily, glaring at my current nuisance, and wishing that it would just melt under the heat of my intense gaze. Unfortunately, it didn't and just flickered the time, 5:31, back at me, virtually unaffected.

I moaned softly into my pillow. It was way too early to be awake. I didn't even get up this early for med school. However, after a little self coaxing, I managed to roll out of bed, and made my way to my shower.

Forty minutes later, I was ready for work. I had eaten breakfast, which was coincidentally my favorite childhood cereal, Lucky Charms (I decided I need all the luck I could get today), my curly dark brown hair was in its usual pony tail and I had a brand new pair of light blue scrubs on. As I inspected myself in the mirror, I knew I was ready to face the outside world.

I left my new apartment with one last fleeting glance, before walking to the elevator. My reluctance to leave its comfort made me feel oddly ashamed. I had been waiting for this day, ever since I decided that I was going to follow in my father's, grandfather's, great grandfather's, etc. footsteps before me. I should be excited. Shouldn't I? Maybe I was just nervous.

Yeah, that was it.

Shaking my head, as an attempt to clear my doubts, I pressed the down button on the elevator several times and then, began to tap my foot in annoyance.

_God, it is slow today._ I thought impatiently and checked my wrist watch. It was now 6:21. I had thirty nine minutes to make a twenty minute drive, but still, I wanted to be early for my first day at Mercy General.

The sound of a door opening and a wheezing man caught my attention. I turned around and saw that my elderly neighbor Mr. Williams had emerged from the door that led out to the staircase.

"Elevators… broken." He told me, panting.

"Damn," I cursed under my breath. I was on the fifth floor, so I would have to make the long trek down to the lobby. Despite my irritation, I was still able to manage a sweet voice for my neighbor. It wasn't his fault the elevator was busted, after all. "Thanks for telling me that Mr. Williams. You saved me an extra ten minutes of waiting."

The older man managed to smile at me.

"No problem Emma," He said and wiped his wrinkled brow. Mr. Williams took a good look at my scrubs, and added, "Good luck on your first day, by the way."

"Thanks, I'll need all the luck I can get." I told him, thinking back to my selection in cereal this morning. I waved to him, as I pushed open the door that led to the staircase. "Have a nice day, Mr. Williams."

"You too," I heard him call after me, as I took off in a light jog down the staircase. I soon was out the lobby door and into the busy Los Angles streets. A shrieking ambulance whizzed by and I immediately knew where it was headed. A few blocks away was my family owned hospital, Queenscove Medical Center. My family had owned and operated it for a few generations and my father, Neal, was currently the Chief of Medicine there. My twin brother also had his first day of work today, at my family's hospital, as a surgical intern.

I sighed, as I unlocked the door to my black Toyota Camry. It had been a present from my grandfather, Baird, for graduating med school. It stung me a lot to think of my grandfather. He and I are currently not on speaking terms, along with pretty much the rest of my family besides my siblings, Emmet and Emiko. They are all angry that I had chosen to work at Mercy General, over the family's hospital.

Their anger is understandable, though. Ever since I was five and announced that I wanted to become a doctor like my grandpa and dad, I was automatically destined to work at Queenscove Medical Center. I, however, like being difficult and chose, instead, to make my own way at Mercy General. It's not like I enjoyed pissing off my family. No, it's just that most of my dad and grandpa's patients are older and have a lot of money. I want to help everyone, young and old, rich and poor. I know my reason sounds ultra cheesy, but it really is the reason why, I have turned my back from my own family and joined the hospital on the shoddy side of town, Mercy General.

My drive was short. I managed to not hit as many traffic lights and ended up pulling into Mercy General's parking lot with fifteen minutes to spare. I got out of my car, locked it, pulled my backpack over my shoulder, and then looked up at my new hospital. It wasn't like I hadn't seen it before. I had come here for the last few days to go over paperwork with the hospital's business office and my interview. But, this time, I was coming here to work.

It was an old building, not as old as Queenscove Medical Center, which was constructed in the early nineteen hundreds. However, Mercy General hadn't been restored over the years, like my family's own hospital. It still had the funky fifties pale tan bricks and ugly green tiled roof.

Despite all of this, I found myself not caring about my new hospital's appearance. I was going to be happy here. I was going to be saving a lot more lives at Mercy General and making a much larger difference in the city. Plus, I didn't have to deal with my overly protective dad and my annoying twin all day. That was good, right?

I nodded firmly to myself, trying to bolster my own confidence, as I strolled through the doors of the ER. I immediately found, using this entrance was a big mistake.

About fifteen people swarmed me, all of them yelling or complaining in some way.

"Doctor, I've been waiting for three hours to get my sons arm checked out! He fell out of his bunk bed last night and I think he might have broken it." One woman shouted in my ear. "Could you please see him?"

A Hispanic woman was tugging at my sleeve and firing off rapidly in Spanish. She looked close to tears.

"Hey!" A stocky pale skinned woman in a floral scrub top and pink sweat pants yelled, as she marched towards the mob that was surrounding me. "Get away from her! We're doing the best we can! She's just an intern for Christ's sakes!"

The stocky woman tugged hard on my arm and pulled me out of the pack, regardless of all the shouts of protest.

"Come on Greeny. You've caused enough commotion for one morning." The woman told me in a hard voice. She still gripped my arm firmly and yanked me down a hallway.

"Sorry, I didn't realize I wasn't allowed to enter through that door." I apologized, my face still very flushed. I didn't plan to make such a dramatic entrance to Mercy General.

The woman's pale face softened.

"It's okay Greeny, you didn't know," She assured me, "but for future reference, always use the side door. It will save you and me a lot of hassle."

"Well noted," I told her and tapped my temple with my left hand for extra emphasis. She still had a secure clutch on my right forearm.

The stocky woman led me down a couple of hallways and ignored all the amused glances that the passing doctors and patients were giving us. She finally stopped abruptly in front of a room that was labeled, 'Conference Room'.

"You get assigned to your attending here." She explained and let go of my arm.

"Thank you very much," I told her sincerely, resisting the urge to rub my now sore arm.

"No problem at all Greeny," She replied with a smile. "Just try to stay out of trouble next time."

"I deffinently will." I said, inwardly shuddering at the thought of all those yelling people in the ER.

The stocky woman turned to leave, but then suddenly spun around.

"Oh, and please, please try your best to not bitch out in your first week." She told me with her hands on her hips and a very serious expression plastered on her face. "We don't get that many interns here, especially women interns, because we're in such a bad area of L.A. So, don't let us down. We need a strong woman doctor here. We only have three in Mercy General at the moment. So, you'd be a big asset."

"Don't worry." I assured her, despite my surprise at the woman's blatant cursing. "I promise you I won't 'bitch out' now. I've come too far." I thought of all the hours I slaved away in med school. After all of that work, I was deffinently not going to give up at this point.

She smiled.

"Good luck in there, Greeny." The stocky woman told me with a wink.

I nodded and watched her hustle away, probably heading back to the ER to deal with the mob. I checked my wrist watch and I realized I was five minutes early. I decided to go inside anyway, so that I could get a seat.

To my surprise, the conference room was already occupied by five men and one woman all in white coats. When I stepped tentatively inside, they all twisted around in their seats to stare up at me.

"Am I too early?" I asked anxiously, hoping that I didn't interrupt anything.

A man with thinning, grey hair rose out of his seat and I recognized him immediately from my interview in June. He was the Chief of Medicine at Mercy General, Doctor Gregory Naxen. He smiled warmly at me.

"No, no, not at all my dear," He insisted and ushered me into a chair that was set up facing the conference table that all the doctors were currently sitting at. I guess I didn't notice him before, being distracted by the men and woman in the white coats, but another person was there too, in scrubs. He was sitting in one of the chairs that faced the other doctors. He looked nervous and was wringing his hands together.

"Thanks," I told the Chief of Medicine and sat down next to my fellow scrub wearer. He stared at me with wide hazel eyes and reminded me of a deer caught in the headlights.

"No problem, my dear," said Doctor Naxen. "Make yourself comfortable. We are just waiting for the other three interns, so we can get started."

"Sure," I replied and straightened out my light blue scrubs, before sinking comfortably into my chair. I turned to look at my fellow intern. He was still squirming in his seat. "Hi," I whispered, "my name is Emma Queenscove. What's yours?"

"Q-queenscove?" The man with the mousy brown hair stuttered. "Doesn't your family have like a famous hospital on the other side of the city?"

"Yeah," I said, keeping my voice low. The six doctors had gone back to their discussion, but I didn't want to disrupt them.

"Then, what are you doing here?" He asked me in a whisper, looking quite shocked by this revelation.

"I just wanted to make a bigger difference." I told him frankly and knew that I would probably have to answer this question a lot for the next few days, once everyone knew who I was. They would all want to know why the famous Neal Queenscove's daughter would come to intern at a no-name hospital like Mercy General. "Most of my family's patients are older. So, I wanted a chance to practice medicine on all types of patients and not just the one's who are circling the drain."

"Oh," My fellow intern still looked at me with wide eyes, like I was dangerous or something.

"You still haven't told me your name." I reminded him with a warm, reassuring smile. I didn't want to scare the man. He looked like he was already going to pee his scrubs at any moment.

"Oh, uh, sorry," He said and ran his hand through his hair nervously. "My name is Theodore Jesslaw, but you can call me Teddy."

"Nice to meet you," I whispered and then, my head shot up, as I heard the door creak open.

Two men in mint green scrubs stepped inside the room, both wearing broad grins. One was of Hispanic origin with caramel colored skin and curly black hair. The other was Caucasian, but still very tan, only a shade lighter than the Hispanic man. He had pale blonde hair and almond shaped blue eyes.

"Welcome boys," Doctor Naxen slapped both men heartily on their backs and guided them towards Teddy and me. "Have a seat. We just have one more intern left that we are waiting for."

The black haired man plopped down in the seat next to me with the other man on his left side.

"Hey guys," My new seat neighbor greeted us. "My name is Melvin Tarside and this is my friend Scott Nicoline." He jerked his thumb at the blonde haired man, who grinned back at Teddy and me.

"A pleasure to meet you both," He murmured at us. I could feel Teddy shaking beside me.

"My name is Emma Queenscove and this is Teddy Jesslaw." I told them and sighed inwardly. Their next question was inevitable.

"Wait, as in the famous Queenscove family that owns that gigantic hospital on the opposite side of L.A.?" Scott asked.

I nodded and explained my reasoning, as in why I would join Mercy General as a medical intern, instead of sticking with my family. They accepted my story, but nevertheless, told me that they thought that I was crazy for skipping out on the family business.

Finally, the last intern arrived. He stumbled into the room a minute before seven and was panting wildly, like he had just been running.

"Ah…" Doctor Naxen gripped the man's shoulder and directed him into a seat next to Teddy. "You must be Doctor Hill. You're not late, so relax and take a seat."

"Thanks," The curly red haired doctor said, still breathing heavily, and sat down next to Teddy, who eyed him anxiously.

"Are you okay?" Teddy whispered to his fellow blue scrub wearer.

"Yeah, just peachy," Doctor Hill replied sarcastically and rolled his bright blue eyes, before he wiped the bead of sweat that had formed on his face.

"So, now that all our interns are present, we can begin." Doctor Naxen said, beaming in our direction and then, stood up. "I am Doctor Gregory Naxen, the Chief of Medicine here at Mercy General. These," He motioned to the five other doctors in white lab coats, "are my colleagues. Doctor Grace Cooper," A woman in her thirties with strawberry blonde hair got to her feet, remained there for a good five seconds, before sitting back down, "Doctor Henry Salamin," An odd looking man with dark hair and a beard did the same thing, as Doctor Cooper, but looked a little more irritated than the woman doctor for going through the hassle of getting up, "Doctor Mathias Ezeko," A bald black man in his fifties, stood up slowly, and smiled down at us, "Doctor Rex Olau," A wrinkled man in his early sixties rose half way out of his seat and then plopped back down, "and last, but certainly not the least, Doctor Jamie Nond," A sandy blonde haired man in his mid thirties scowled at the Chief of Medicine and raised his left hand lazily.

I recognized Doctor Nond immediately. He had been present at the award dinner that was held in my dad's honor the year before. My dad had been named the best doctor in the state of California by some medical magazine and the blonde haired man sitting in front of me had been the runner up.

"So, now that you all know my colleagues, I will inform you that each one of you will be assigned to work beside one of them." Doctor Naxen informed us. I couldn't hide the surprise on my face. Normally, one attending was in charge of a group of interns. Now, I had the chance to get my own attending all to myself. "I know it's unorthodox, but I decided to do it this way because, since we have so few interns here at Mercy General, I wanted you take full advantage of the individual attention that you will need in your first year as doctors."

All of the interns nodded and I knew that none of us were upset. It was an interns dream to have the full attention of an experienced doctor, instead of having to share him or her with ten other people.

"I made up the assignments last night," He waved a piece of paper in his hand, "not even my colleagues know which one of you they've got, so it will be a total surprise for all of you."

A loud sigh came from Doctor Nond, but Doctor Naxen ignored it and his gaze turned towards Scott and Melvin.

"I'll dish out the surgical interns first, to my surgical attendings." He said with a small smile and the two men in the mint green scrubs stood up next to me. "Doctor Nicoline, you'll be with Doctor Ezeko." Scott and the black surgeon exchanged nods. "Doctor Tarside, you're going to be trailing Doctor Salmalin."

"Welcome aboard, young man," Doctor Salmalin said, chuckling lightly.

I watched Melvin give the older doctor a polite smile, before throwing a worried glance with his blonde haired friend. Apparently, Melvin got the same weird vibes rolling off Doctor Salmalin, just like I did now.

"Now, moving onto our medical interns," Doctor Naxen gaze locked upon Teddy, Aidan and I. We all stood up, just like Melvin and Scott had a few moments before. "Doctor Jesslaw, you're partnered with Doctor Cooper." I could feel Teddy trembling beside me, as Doctor Cooper's eyes started to scrutinize him. Unfortunately, for my fellow intern, she didn't look satisfied by what she saw. Instead, she scowled.

"Uh huh," The mousy brown haired man managed to get out.

"Doctor Hill, you'll be trailing Doctor Olau." Dr. Naxen continued.

I heard Aidan let out a soft moan under his breath, before replying in a fake cheery voice, "An honor doctor," He dipped his head in the older man's direction.

I couldn't help, but roll my eyes. That guy was unbelievable.

"So… that leaves Doctor Queenscove and Doctor Nond."

I could feel the five heads of the residents snapping in my direction.

"Queenscove!" Doctor Nond spat my last name with so much venom and animosity that I was actually scared. He had leapt out of his chair and was pointing his condemning finger in my direction. "What the hell are you playing at Greg by letting the enemy in here?"

Hurt could be the only emotion that currently consumed me. I didn't want to be considered the 'enemy' by my own attending. I was a doctor, just like him. Our only enemies are supposed illnesses like cancer, heart disease, and HIV. We weren't supposed to be fighting each other.

"I am not the enemy." I snapped at my new attending, furious that he was enraged by my mere presence. He was being absolutely ridiculous and immature.

Doctor Nond glared loathingly at me, but ignored my words. He instead attacked Doctor Naxen again.

"That bastard is using her to spy on me Greg." He nearly shouted. "He wants to make sure that he stays number one in the state. How could you let her in here? Are you insane?"

"Did you just call my dad a bastard?" I said, feeling my temper rising quickly. No one insults my family in front of me and gets away with it. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

I knew it was rude and probably a little unwise, since I am a lowly intern, but I wouldn't let this man get away with demeaning me and my family.

"Doctor Queenscove that is enough," Doctor Naxen told me firmly, his usually calm grey eyes were now flashing. "All of you go outside, while I talk with Doctor Nond."

I marched out of the conference room, still livid that my own attending could hate me without even knowing me. It was absolutely unfair. How could he judge me this quickly?

No one spoke a single word, as we filed outside. Teddy threw me a worried glance, while the jerk, Aidan smirked at me. Meanwhile, the other attendings were all staring at me with mistrustful eyes. I bet they had the same opinion as Doctor Nond, but weren't so open about it. This only made my fists clench.

"How could you do this to me Greg?" I heard Doctor Nond yell. His voice was perfectly audible, despite the wall between us.

"Why can't you give her a chance?" Doctor Naxen's reply was muffled and I had to strain to hear it. "She told me in her interview that she wanted to work here to help everyone, no matter what their finacial status or age was. You know how Queenscove Medical Center exclusively caters to the rich and elderly. She wants to make a bigger difference. I think that is very admirable and it is the reason why I accepted her into our internship program."

I could feel my face burn, as nine heads twisted in my direction. My fellow interns and attendings were all staring at me again. As if they were observing me under a giant microscope. It made me squirm.

"A load of bull shit in my opinion," Doctor Nond said and I could feel the rage build up in me again.

"Jamie…" Doctor Naxen's voice seemed exasperated. "Just do this."

"What if I don't want to?" Doctor Nond replied stubbornly. "What if I don't want to teach the spy?"

"She is not a spy, Jamie." I heard Doctor Naxen snap. "She has my full confidence. I know I don't go all official on you a lot, but you must be reminded that I am your boss and if I say that she's your intern. She's yours."

"Why can't you give her to Grace or Rex?" Doctor Nond pressed. "Why me?"

"Because I said so and that is my final word, unless you want to be suspended for not following orders." Doctor Naxen told the attending resolutely.

"I… I… I fine," Doctor Nond growled. "I'll do it, but I am not going to enjoy it."

"I didn't say you have to enjoy it. You just need to be a teacher that is all I am asking of you." Doctor Naxen replied.

The sound of scraping chairs and footsteps made Doctor Olau and Doctor Salamin, who were leaning against the door, trying to listen discretely, jump back. A cross looking Doctor Nond and a smiling Doctor Naxen appeared in the doorway.

"Our issues are all settled now, so if the attendings would like to begin rounds, you can head off to that." The Chief of Medicine informed us. "Have a nice first day interns."

We all mumbled our thanks to the kind, old doctor and I turned to look at my new teacher. He still wore a scowl and the hatred in his brown eyes was obvious. I stared back at him determinedly. I would show him.

"Come on Greeny." He barked at me and snapped his fingers like I was his dog that would follow him around at will. Of course, I did trail him down the hallway like I was on an imaginary leash, but it didn't mean I liked it. "I've got a lot to show you. Be careful to note it all in your little spy notepad your daddy probably bought you."

"You've got a lot of nerve." I told him, trying my best to keep at his heels. _Damn, he walks fast. _I thought, peeved. "I am not a spy!"

"Sure, you're not Greeny." He said in a complete disbelieving tone of voice.

This only made me angrier. I always had a temper, even as a child, but as I got older I learned to control it more. Unfortunately, Doctor Nond was currently wearing down my control.

"Now, this is the supply closet." He pointed to a door with a tiny glass window that read, 'Private'. I assumed it was labeled that way, so no patient or visitor would wander in there by accident. "Could you fetch me a syringe and needle, greeny?"

"Fine," I muttered and walked inside the supply closet.

Before I could even blink, the door closed behind me and I heard a click. I spun around to see Doctor Nond jingling his keys mockingly in the window and wearing a ridiculous grin on his face.

"Can't do much spying in there? Can you greeny?" He said, his cocky voice muffled by the door.

"Let me out of here!" I yelled irately after trying the locked door handle and started to pound my fists on the door.

"Sorry, I'd rather not." He replied. "Instead, I think I am going to leave you in here, while I complete my rounds. Maybe, I'll even be nice enough to let you out before the end of your shift." I growled at him, my green eyes flashing dangerously. He was deffinently going to pay for this. "Hopefully, you'll spend the entire day wishing you worked for you're your precious daddy and then, decide to return to his open arms like the prodigal son. Won't you princess?"

"Fuck you," I muttered, absolutely pissed off now. He had no clue how much I sacrificed with my family to just work at Mercy General. How my relationship with my father and grandfather was now basically on a string. "Who the hell do you think you are?" I shouted.

He grinned at me again.

"I am the one and only Doctor Jamie Nond." He said in a smug tone. "Spell it out with me there greeny, J-a-m-i-e- space- n-o-n-d. You got that or do I need to repeat myself?"

I decided to ignore him and turned my back towards my attending.

"Aw man…" He sighed dramatically. "Don't tell me you are going to start sulking. I bet you haven't done that since daddy told you that you couldn't get that hot pink convertible you wanted for oh so long."

I clenched my fists, but continued to give Doctor Nond the silent treatment. As irritable as he was, it wasn't going to help my career at Mercy General if I broke his nose on my first day.

"Fine Doctor Queenscove, I'll be seeing you in about… hmm…" I knew he was now checking his watch for theatrical purposes. I refused to give him the pleasure of turning around to watch his spectacle. "Maybe twelve hours, give or take. Have a terrific day."

I groaned after I heard his footsteps quickly fade away and realized that he had truly left me in here, alone, for twelve hours. I immediately tried pounding on the door, praying that some passerby would overhear me and rescue me from my dungeon that was the supply closet.

Unfortunately, after ten minutes straight of screaming and hammering on the door, I grasped the fact that no one in the hospital was coming to release me. I ran my hands through my hair and sunk to the floor, in total defeat.

Life sucked.

Leave it to me, to get the evilest, most misunderstanding doctor in the entire joint as my attending. I just wanted to help more people by working at Mercy General and instead, I get locked in a supply closet. I stared angrily up at the ceiling.

_If this is your idea of a joke, it's not that funny._ I thought and wished that someone, at least God heard it.

I glumly hugged my knees to my chest and kept my eyes fixed on the door, hoping that someone needed something out of the supply closet. I ended up sitting there for two hours in a complete brood. First, I cursed myself for being such an idiot for thinking I would be accepted here, despite my last name. Then, I cursed Doctor Nond for being an absolute asshole to me and lastly, I cursed the entire hospital for not wanting a single item out of the supply closet.

Suddenly, my cell phone vibrated in my pocket and I eagerly took it out, praying that it was someone from Mercy General asking where I was. Instead, it was a text message from my Emmet. It wasn't like I was upset that my twin brother had texted me, but I really, really wanted it to be from someone in the hospital.

_Well, if you wanted to get a message from someone at the hospital, you probably should have given your number out to them, genius._ I thought disparagingly and then, smacked my own forehead.

_Touché._

I sighed, before reading Emmet's message.

_Hey twiny, how is your first day goin?_

I resisted the urge to write back, 'Absolutely horrible, I am not learning anything. Instead, I am being held prisoner in a supply closet'. I didn't want Emmet telling my dad about how I was being treated here. My dad would just raise a big fuss about it, get me embarrassed, demand I come back to Queenscove Medical Center, and then go on and on, saying, 'I told you so'. I groaned, as the mental images flooded my mind. The strongest one, surprisingly, was one of Doctor Nond sneering at me and telling me to go run home to my daddy and his large credit card.

I pushed those all out of my head, however. I would not return to my family's hospital, even though I would be regarded as practical royalty there, and no one would dare mock me, lock me in a supply closet, or treat me like utter crap. I needed to make my own way in the medical world, without their help. I needed to be a good doctor on my own terms, by saving lives, not by my last name. Unfortunately, Mercy General was the only way I could achieve any of that.

I made up a total lie to my twin brother and then, pressed the 'send' button. My brother and I ended up having a short conversation via cell phone, before he told me that he had an appendectomy and would call me later.

Time seemed to pass unbearably slow. I now had been stuck in the supply closet for three whole hours.

_I might as well get something good out of this._ I thought and began to study what shelves held what item. I knew that memorizing the exact location of all the supplies would be beneficial for me in the future. Plus, it would piss off Doctor Nond if I knew more about the hospital than the other interns. He would probably accuse me of doing 'thorough spy work', but I found myself not caring. He could accuse me of being a double crosser as much as he wanted, but I knew the truth and so did Doctor Naxen and that was all that mattered.

I was into my fourth hour, when my stomach began to grumble. I checked my cell phone and the time read, eleven thirty six. It was almost lunch time at Mercy General and I was going to miss it, stuck in the supply closet.

_Ugh._

I groaned and lay back down on the ground, hugging my knees to my chest. Maybe, I could get comfortable enough to take a nap. It certainly wouldn't hurt me. I had nothing else to do.

It seemed like I was just closing my eyes, when someone barged into the supply closet. My eyelids fluttered open and I saw the same strawberry blonde haired doctor, Doctor Grace Cooper, and my fellow intern, Teddy, still looking as frightened as he did this morning, staring down at me.

"How long have you been in here, Queenscove?" Doctor Cooper snapped at me. I stared up at her, my green eyes wide in amazement. I checked my cell phone and found that I really did fall asleep. It was now 12:30. My amazement was quickly replaced by relief and I let it wash over me. After five long hours, freedom was finally here at last.

"Five hours, doctor," I told her and then, scrambled to my feet. Unfortunately, I found that my right foot had fallen asleep, during my imprisonment, causing it to give out from under me. Luckily, Teddy was ready to grab my arm to prevent me from falling, which would have made me look like more of an idiot in front of the attending.

"Thanks," I mouthed at him.

"Oh, he is so dead." The female doctor growled and began to rant. "I knew he was being suspicious when he ordered everyone to steer clear of the supply closet this morning, but I never would have dreamed that he would lock his own intern in here. Wait until I get a hold of him. I am going to chew his head off."

I tried to picture who was scarier to me at the moment, Doctor Cooper or Doctor Nond, and decided that they were at an equal scariness level. I had no idea, who would a full fledged argument between the two of them. But, by the look on Doctor Cooper's face, I am almost feeling sympathetic towards my rotten attending.

"Come," She barked at me and for the second time today, I was being pulled down the hallway. Apparently, everyone here thinks I am incapable of following another person. First, it was the nurse in the ER and now Doctor Cooper with her iron grip. I moaned inwardly, as I earned more amused glances by passerby's, as I was dragged into a room that was labeled, 'Cafeteria'.

My attending was easy to spot, despite the swarms of nurses and doctors that filled the place. He was the only person that was sitting alone. Doctor Nond was at the table in the back corner and seemed to be totally absorbed in his food. He didn't even notice Doctor Cooper storming towards him, until she slapped her hand on his table.

"Ah… Grace," He said calmly, regardless of the woman doctor's bright red face, "what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Cut the bull Jamie." She practically shouted and to my extreme discomfort, everyone's heads in the cafeteria turned in our direction. "I can't believe you, you insufferable jerk! How dare you lock your own intern in the supply closet for five hours! Are you insane? Because if that's the case, I am sure I can pull some strings and get the psych ward to check you out."

Doctor Nond must have not been aware of my presence because he looked surprised to see me standing there.

"Oh, you released the spy." His stony brown eyes still penetrated my own with absolute loathing. "Have you had enough time to think? Are you ready to run back to daddy now, Queenscove? Had enough of our poor, mismanaged hospital?"

He did not pause in between any of his questions, so I could rebuke him. Instead, I earned the melting stares of everyone in the room. I cursed under my breath. I hated drawing all this attention to myself. I didn't want it. I wasn't like one of those attention whores, I used to hate in high school.

I felt the blood rush to my face. I had to be tomato red by now.

"You f-" I began angrily, before I was cut off.

Doctor Cooper rested her hand on my shoulder.

"Let me handle this, Queenscove." She advised me, before rounding on Doctor Nond. I immediately got completely lost in her tirade, not even bothering to keep up because of the incredible speed the older doctor was talking at. I was able to pick up a few words from time to time, however, like 'inhumane', 'irresponsible', and 'dangerous'. At last, she was done and a deafening silence seemed to have filled the cafeteria.

"What do you want me to say?" My attending finally asked. It made me furious to see that he wore a look of indifference, not even ruffled after being screamed at in front of all of his colleagues.

"Sorry Jamie! I want you to apologize to your own intern… your damn student, and then, want you to actually teach her something, instead of locking her in the supply closet for five hours." Dr. Cooper snapped. "You got that, or do I have to get Naxen involved?" She jerked her thumb at me. "You want to lose your job over one intern, Jamie, one single, insignificant," She turned her head back at me, "no offense Queenscove, intern. Is that what you really, really want?"

My attending actually appeared to be hesitating. Did he really hate me so much that he'd rather be fired, then teach me?

"No," He admitted with a sigh and looked at me again. The loathing in his eyes was still there, but it had softened slightly. "Sorry for locking you in the supply closet for five hours, Greeny."

_Why is everyone calling me Greeny?_ I wondered for the first time today. It was a random, out of the blue thought and I had no clue why my brain decided to surface it at this current time. _Originally, the nurse and now Doctor Nond… what was with that nickname?_

"Apology accepted." I said through gritted teeth. I was still extremely angry at my attending and on top of that, embarrassed from all the unwanted attention. I found that I would have loved nothing, but to break his nose at the moment.

"Now, buy her lunch and then, have a nice chat on how you two are going to resolve your differences." Doctor Cooper snapped at my attending. "Do it, now!"

"Jesus Christ Grace," Doctor Nond scampered out of his chair, like a frightened rabbit, and made his way for the lunch line. "What do you want to eat, Greeny? Nothing to expensive, I don't have as much money as you."

I ignored that last remark with great effort and turned my head towards the bulletin board that showed the day's lunch selections. I studied it for a moment, before making my decision.

"A turkey sandwich, please." I told him and I didn't know why I was suddenly being so polite to the bastard. Maybe, I just felt bad for him. Doctor Cooper was pretty harsh on him, after all.

"Sit." Doctor Grace Cooper ordered me and I took the seat across from my attending. "I don't know why you haven't received a pager yet, but I'll give you my cell phone number in the mean time. So, if he gives you anymore crap, just text me and I'll come to give him a piece of my mind. You got that?"

I nodded, though as appreciative I was that Doctor Cooper wanted to protect me from my attending, I wanted to tell her I could handle it on my own. I didn't want everyone else fighting my battles for me. I was strong enough to do it on myself.

However, I didn't tell her that because the memory of her yelling at Doctor Nond was still fresh in my mind. She was a pretty scary woman, when she was angry and I am sure she still had some rage left over from five minutes ago. I decided not to take my chances. Instead, I accepted her number and put it into my contact section on my cell phone.

"Thank you very much Doctor Cooper for getting me out of the supply closet." I told her, truly grateful, before she started to leave for her own lunch table. "I thought I was going to be stuck in there all day."

"No problem, Queenscove," The older female doctor told me, "Just remember to call."

"I will." I lied, knowing that I would never ask her for anymore help in dealing with my attending, except, of course, if I was locked in a supply closet again.

Doctor Nond returned with my turkey sandwich, shortly after Doctor Cooper dragged Teddy away to sit with another female doctor and a man in green scrubs, who had to be a surgeon.

He let my lunch fall unceremoniously onto the table.

"Thanks," I muttered and took a bight out of the turkey sandwich. I'll admit it tasted really good, for cafeteria food.

To my discomfort, Doctor Nond watched me eat my entire lunch, not even taking his eyes off me for a minute.

"What," I finally asked him, "do I have something on my face?"

"You are a direct thing for an intern." He told me. "I would never dare to be that straight forward to my own attending."

"Well, I bet you, your own attending never locked you in a supply closet for five hours for no apparent reason. Now did they?" I fired back.

Doctor Nond shrugged.

"No, I guess not." He admitted. "You have me there, Greeny."

There it was again, Greeny. The nickname I automatically got with no real explanation. If he got to treat me like crap the entire morning, I think I deserve to get some of my questions answered.

"Okay, you got be cruel to me this morning." I told him. "I think that warrants me to get a few questions that I have on my mind answered."

"I already bought you lunch." Doctor Nond argued. "Isn't that enough?"

"No," I said firmly and watched my attending roll his eyes.

"Fine, fire away,"

"First, why do you call me Greeny? Some nurse did too this morning, before you, and I have no clue why I got this nickname." I told him.

"Oh, you must have run into Nurse Salma." Doctor Nond explained. "She calls all the interns that. I am just copying her because I am totally unoriginal and I refuse to call you by your name."

"Doctor Queenscove? Or Emma?"

"Both," He replied with a fierce gaze. "I dislike both names immensely, especially your last name."

"Fantastic," I mumbled, trying not to roll my own eyes.

"Hey, at least it isn't anything worse, like annoying midget girl or rich kid or princess or daddy's girl or-"

"Okay, you can stop that now. I get the point." I interrupted him with a scowl. "And I am 5'4. I hardly see how that classifies me as a midget. You aren't that tall yourself."

"On the contrary, I am six feet even." My attending said with a satisfied smirk. "That makes me eight inches taller than you."

"Congrats," I informed him sarcastically. "Next question," I said and hesitated slightly. I was actually afraid to ask him this one, "why do you despise me so much? What the hell did I ever do to you?"

I held my breath and scrutinized every inch of his face for an angry reaction.

"There are a lot of things Greeny that I despise about you." He told me, his eyebrows now furrowed. "And it would probably take the rest of the day to explain everything to you. Unfortunately," He rose from his chair, "we have rounds to do."

I groaned in frustration and followed him out of the cafeteria. I had to jog to keep up with attending.

"Wait, is it because my dad was named best doctor in the state? Is that why you hate me?" I asked. "It would be pretty immature of you, if that is the reason. You can't hate someone because you're overly competitive."

"Well, I guess I am immature and overly competitive then." Doctor Nond said with a shrug, snatching a bunch charts off the counter of the nurse's station and then dumping them into my hands. "Hold these, Greeny."

"There has to be more." I insisted, as we entered a patient's room.

"Zip it and watch me do my magic." He instructed me and approached the patient. He was a pudgy white male, in his forty's, with curly brown hair.

A nurse was already in there and relayed to my attending,

"Mr. Webster was admitted complaining of a chronic coughing and shortness of breath, Doctor Nond."

I watched my attending flip through the patient's charts, as Mr. Webster let out a loud, hacking cough. Doctor Nond looked up and studied the man more carefully.

Mr. Webster coughed several more times, each one more violent than the last, before his body relaxed again.

"Nurse, get a blood culture on Mr. Webster and if I am correct, which I know I am, you'll be starting him on erythromycin in a bit." He told the lady in the purple scrubs, who nodded, before hustling out of the room. Doctor Nond turned to me. "Greeny, why would I treat Mr. Webster with erythromycin?"

"For pertuiss or it's commonly known name, whooping cough, Doctor Nond." I shot right back at my attending with a hint of satisfaction. I hoped that the years of hanging around Queenscove Medical Center, plus med-school, would put me over the top of my fellow interns. I had a big name to live up to, after all. I needed to be the best here at Mercy General.

"Ah… so you aren't dumb, Greeny that is a relief." He said, stuffing Mr. Webster's chart back into my hands. "But, that was an easy one. We'll go check out some of my patients in the ICU and really see what you're made of up there. Come." Doctor Nond snapped his fingers and I trailed after him.

The ICU at Mercy General was certainly a lot different, then the one at Queenscove Medical Center. For one thing, it wasn't filled with old people suffering from strokes, heart attacks, etc. In fact, it was a lot bloodier.

Three young men with stab wounds from a gang fight were our first patients. Doctor Nond got to fire questions away at me in front of everyone, and I got to play the smart ass, by answering them all with perfect text book answers.

"So, you know your stuff, Greeny." Doctor Nond said with a sigh, as we leaned against the counter of the nurse's station. "Thank God for that or I might have ripped all my hair out, but we got to see if you can put it into practice."

The door to the ICU crashed open with three people wheeling in a man that was bleeding profusely and screaming on the top of his lungs.

"Ah… looks like you finally have a perfect chance to prove yourself, Greeny." Doctor Nond said, as we rushed forward to stabilize the man. "Dazzle me."

I grimaced and heard a nurse rapidly tell my attending,

"It's a gun shot wound to the chest. He's losing blood fast and needs to have a chest tube inserted to remove the blood that is in his collapsed left lung."

"Greeny, chest tube stat." Doctor Nond barked at me.

I took a deep breath, as I had a scalpel thrust into my hands by one of the nurses, and tried to ignore all the blood that was now dripping onto my new scrubs, plus the deafening sound of all the beeping monitors.

_You can do this. Just like in med school, except on a living, breathing person. You can't let Doctor Nond down. _I thought and chanted my professor's instructions in my head.

_A one inch incision at the seventh intercostal space in the mid-clavicular line, a one inch incision at the seventh intercostal space in the mid-clavicular line, a one inch incision at the seventh intercostal space in the mid-clavicular line-_

"Do it Greeny or this man is deffinently going to die." Doctor Nond shouted at me, breaking through my thoughts.

His words seemed to bring me back to life and I finally mustered up enough courage to make the incision. After that, it all seemed to become natural for me. I grabbed a hemostat to spread the tissues down to the rib, then just over the rib and into the pleural space. I finally popped through the pleural lining and into the chest cavity, so that I could pop the chest tube in. After I secured the tube in the chest cavity, I sealed my incision with gauze that was being held out to me by a nurse.

I sighed in relief. My ordeal was over and Doctor Nond and the nurses could handle it from here. I watched in amazement, as my attending rallied everyone to stabilize the gunshot victim, so he could be sent down to surgery.

"For a second there, I thought you were going to lose your head, Greeny." Doctor Nond said. His eyes were still fixed on our gunshot victim, who was now being wheeled out of the ICU and to surgery. "For God's sakes, it was just inserting a chest tube, not rocket science."

I couldn't meet my attending's eyes and instead, settled for the floor.

"I know." I muttered. "I just got caught up in the moment with all the shouting people and the blood and the- "

"You probably should have thought about that before you applied for an internship here." He snapped at me. "This isn't daddy's little senior citizen center, where the most you get is a rich grandma needing a hip replacement. This is the real world of medicine, Greeny. Get used to it or get the hell out of my hospital."

"Yes Doctor Nond," I said, truly ashamed.

"Get out of my sight." He snarled. He was the angriest I had seen him all day, even after Doctor Naxen announced I was his intern. "Go get some clean scrubs and take your time because I really, really don't feel like looking at your pathetic face any longer. It just irritates me to no end."

"Yes Doctor Nond," I repeated and couldn't even bring myself to be angry with him for demeaning me. I knew I deserved it. I hesitated and I am lucky that the gun shot victim didn't die on us because of my stupidity.

"Go! Go! Go!" He shouted impatiently and pointed towards the door.

I marched out, keeping my eyes glued to the floor, not even daring to look up at everyone else. I just knew I would be more embarrassed than I already was.

My feet carried me down the hallway, but I quickly realized that I had no clue where I would find a scrubs machine in the hospital. I stopped and looked around for a friendly face. Unfortunately, everyone looked either aggravated or just plain mean.

"Ah… if it isn't Doctor Queenscove," A voice drawled from behind me. I spun around and saw it was my fellow intern, Aidan Hill. "That was some impressive show in the ICU. Doctor Nond really had a field day with you, didn't he?"

"I just want you to know, Hill, that I don't like you, at all." I informed him tartly. "So, get the hell away from me and stay out of my business."

"Sure, I'll just go get myself locked in a supply closet." He said in a mocking tone. "I am sure we'll never cross paths there, especially after this morning. I am sure you'll now be avoiding that supply closet for the rest of your internship."

"Go to hell." I growled and turned on my heel, stomping off in the opposite direction.

"By the way, the scrubs machine is over here, Queenscove!" Hill shouted and pointed to the doorway to his direct right. "Judging by the amount of blood on your scrubs, I'd say you'd be looking for it."

"Good observation," I muttered, before trudging past my fellow intern and into the room I had been searching for.

For the scrubs machine to work, I would have to put my bloody shirt in, which meant I would have to strip down to my black laced bra. Unfortunately, it happened to be my tremendous luck that Aidan Hill decided to follow me inside.

"So, are you going to give me a free show?" He asked with a smirk and folded his arms cockily over his chest.

"Maybe, you should ask your mommy first. After all, this is the first time you're going to see a woman in a bra." I retorted, not even bothering to hide my frustration. "It might be too sensitive for your little boy eyes."

"I think you meant to say that I'll just be seeing a little, ugly girl in her training bra." Aidan shot back, unfazed.

_Touché_.

"Get out, now." I snapped and pointed at the door. "I am warning you Hill and unless, you want to test my already thinning patience, I suggest you sprint out of this room."

"No, I want to see if women doctor's live up to their reputations around here-as whores."

I felt my fists clench. He had a lot of nerve.

"Get out."

"No way,"

"Leave."

"No,"

"Don't make me-"

Hill sneered.

"What are you going to do, hit me with your purse?" He laughed scornfully. It was at that moment, that I decided his laugh was one of the worst on the entire planet, maybe in the universe. "Seriously though, Queenscove, let's see the girls."

Little did my fellow intern know, that my father, my sister Emiko, Aunt Kel, Uncle Dom, and my cousin Byron were all either currently apart of the military or had been. This meant that I had picked up a few tricks from them over the years. Especially the self defense one's from my Aunt Kel, who told me how to ward off any unfriendly men that wanted to take advantage of me. I had never really had to resort to any of these 'tricks', but I would be happy to see Hill be the first person I'd try it on.

"Oh… I won't hit you with a purse, more like my fist." I told him and took a threatening step forward.

Hill scoffed.

"You probably couldn't even bruise me with your best shot." He said haughtily.

I rolled my eyes. That man needed someone to take him down a peg or two.

"You have one last chance, get out now, or suffer the consequences." I told him, as a final warning. I really wanted to hit him, but I knew it would be improper at work, especially on my first day. At least, if I gave him one last opportunity to leave, I wouldn't feel as guilty for breaking the hospital's rules, after I smashed Hill's nose.

"Come on Queenscove. You know you can't resist showing them off to me, so take off your shirt." Hill's eyes were glued to my chest in anticipation.

_Pervert._

"Is there a problem in here, Greeny?"

I inwardly moaned, when I recognized the voice. Doctor Nond was standing in the door way, looking very stern, and he had his arms crossed over his chest. He stared at us both suspiciously and to my delight, Hill earned a fierce glare.

"No Doctor Nond, I was just trying to get some clean scrubs." I told my attending. "Doctor Hill here was just about to leave," I glared at my fellow intern, "weren't you?"

"Yeah, there wasn't much of a show here anyway." He remarked snidely and then, brushed past my attending without another word.

"You have any interesting choice in men, Greeny." Doctor Nond commented, after a few moments of me glowering at the corner that Hill had been standing in. "Just like you make an interesting choice in hospitals. Both of these choices are equally confusing to me."

"He's not my boyfriend, if that's what you mean." I shot back, ignoring his jab at me for deciding to work at Mercy General, instead of Queenscove Medical Center. "He's far from it." I shuddered at the thought of Hill and I involved romantically. He'd be the worst boyfriend, ever. "So, if you excuse me, doctor, I need to change into a new shirt. I would have done it earlier, like you requested, but some people were persistent in remaining in the room and getting a free show."

I swore I saw a scowl pass over Doctor Nond's face, but before I could blink, it was gone. Instead, my attending nodded curtly, exited the room, and pulled the door closed hard behind him.

I sighed, relieved my ordeal with Hill was over, and proceeded to change out of my bloody scrubs. After pulling a fresh blue scrubs shirt over my head, I joined my attending in the hallway.

"Do you have your head screwed back on, greeny?" Doctor Nond asked me bluntly, his stone cold brown eyes boring into my own. "Is all the nonsense with your little boyfriend forgotten, so that you don't stand there like an idiot the next time a dire patient needs help?"

"Yes sir," I replied, not even bothering to protest on the boyfriend comment.

"Good, let's get back to rounds." He said, before snapping his fingers. "Come Greeny."

And just like this morning, I trailed after him like an obedient puppy dog.

Two car crashes, one liver failure, three cases of dehydration, a broken collar bone, and one kidney transplant patient later, my first day of work finally ended.

I felt oddly accomplished on my first day, even with my imprisonment in the supply closet. Sure, I figured out quickly that I wasn't the best intern in the world. I lacked in some areas and shined in others. For example, I was pretty decent with all the book facts, but when it came to handling a quickly fading patient, I would lose my head. However, I knew I was lucky to have Doctor Nond, as my attending. Despite him being quite antisocial, sarcastic, and down right mean, he was actually a really good doctor.

I learned from today that it would take a lot of work to win my attending over. He hated my father, thought I was a spy, and saw me as a spoiled princess that had no real reason to become a doctor, besides living up to my family name. Regardless of all this, I believe I put myself on the right track by the end of the day to building a better, more trusting relationship with my teacher. I even had Doctor Nond bode me farewell at the back door with a grunt and a mumble, "You could be worse."

I took his words as a compliment and because of them I was able to face the world outside Mercy General with a genuine smile on my face. As I put my key into the ignition, I felt my cell phone vibrate in my pocket. I flipped it open and the message inside made my smile turn into a grin. My twin brother was inviting me out for a few beers with my cousin, Byron, and my sister, Emiko, who I hadn't seen in two weeks.

Tonight was going to be a good night.

* * *

Edited- March 3rd, 2009


	2. Rough Ride

**My Own Way**

Chapter 2

_Maybe it's too soon to be sure  
But I really do believe that someday  
We're gonna have it all  
So I try to hard to keep the rhythm of a train  
Rolling right along  
When the ride gets rough you got to carry on_

_Jeremy Kay- Have It All_

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

A/N: I changed the last names of some of the characters because I thought it would better fit the Tamora Pierce fandom. Sorry if this causes any inconvenience to anyone. Also, I have edited the first chapter to include the new last names of most of the doctors and made a few minor additions and subtractions.

Doctor Fisher= Doctor Nond

Doctor Grace White= Doctor Cooper

Doctor Teddy Bass= Doctor Jesslaw

Doctor Melvin Gomez= Doctor Tarside

Doctor Scott York= Doctor Nicoline

Doctor Petterson= Doctor Naxen

Doctor Aidan Finnegan= Doctor Hill (Marti's Hill)

Nurse Crowley= Nurse Salma

* * *

I parked my black Toyota Camry in my new space at the back of the lot. Today was my twenty second day, since I started at Mercy General, and I would like to say things have started to become routine for me.

I entered through the side door, the memories of the mob attacking me on my first day were still fresh on my mind, and made my way towards the nurse's station.

"Good morning Greeny," Nurse Salma called out to me with a short wave. I returned it and watched the stocky nurse hustle away, probably back to the ER. Nurse Salma has been extremely kind to me, ever since I've gotten here. She always has great advice for me, whether it was medical or just dealing with my attending. She even went so far to introduce me to the other two women doctor's here at Mercy General, Doctor Zoey Veldaine, a surgeon, and Doctor Henrietta Tourakom. Both women, I would have never had the guts to say hello to, if it hadn't been for Nurse Salma.

Doctor Nond was waiting for me, as he did for the last three weeks, at the Nurse's Station. He was sitting on top of the counter with his arms crossed. When he spotted me, he hopped off and greeted me in his now habitual matter,

"Did you get me my coffee, Greeny?"

"Of course," I replied and handed him a steaming hot Styrofoam cup that I had picked up from a deli on the way to work. It was one of his many requirements that came with me being his student and if I ever forgot to bring him his caffeine, he would probably start acting just like a PMSing girl.

He sipped it and I watched him closely, hoping that this cup had passed his inspection. I had learned over the last three weeks that Doctor Nond was very picky when it came to his coffee.

"Could need a little more cream…" He muttered, "But otherwise, it's an acceptable cup. Where'd you get this from?"

"Katz's," I replied, naming the deli two blocks away from my apartment.

"Hmm… I think you should get the coffee there tomorrow." He told me and then narrowed his brown eyes. "You got that?"

"Yes, Doctor Nond,"

"That's a good Greeny," He patted the top of my head mockingly, causing me to scowl. I hated it sometimes when he made me feel like a dog, more than a medical intern. "Now, fetch me my charts from Delia. My patients are awaiting me."

Delia Morrison was the head nurse. She was a stick like woman in her late forties with graying dark brown hair and noticeable crow's feet around her eyes. She was nice enough, but got a little snappy sometimes, so I made sure I approached her with caution.

"Hi," I greeted her tentatively. She was looking down at a pile of papers and scribbling furiously on them. "Could I have Doctor Nond's charts please?"

"Get them yourself." She snapped at me without even looking up.

Opps, I should have seen that one coming.

"Uh, sure," I scampered away from the head nurse as fast as I could and instead, went to another younger, timid nurse, I knew only as Rita. "I need Doctor Nond's charts."

The young Latina woman nodded and handed me a stack of manila folders, before returning to the file cabinet, she had been sorting through.

I thanked her and then walked back to my attending, who looked amused, while still sipping his coffee.

"Did Delia chew your head off?" He asked in an annoyingly hopeful tone of voice, as he leafed through the charts that I had presented him.

"Not really, but I know a ticking time bomb, when I see one." I informed him and watched Doctor Nond expectantly, eager to go on rounds. When he didn't move, I asked, "Why aren't we starting?"

"Oh, I've been waiting for another, less wise intern to approach Delia in her bad mood and ask her for charts." My attending said with a smirk. "I can't wait to see the explosion."

"That could take ages." I told him, rolling my eyes. I found that my attending loved to make other people's pain, especially his coworkers, his pleasure. Though, I couldn't help, but be secretly pleased, as I deciphered the hidden compliment in Doctor Nond's words. He had inadvertently called me wiser than my fellow interns.

"Nope, I never lose faith in you intern's bad timing." Doctor Nond said and then, I saw my fellow intern, Aidan Hill approach the head nurse. "Ah… here it comes. He's a goner."

"I TOLD YOU INTERNS TO GET THE CHARTS YOURSELVES!" Delia screamed at Aidan, who nearly fell backwards in surprise.

Despite, my strong dislike of Aidan Hill, I couldn't help, but wince at the sound of the head nurse's voice. That could have been me, if I hadn't asked her for charts a few minutes ago.

"Timing is everything, greeny. Remember that." Doctor Nond informed me, as if he had just read my mind, and then snapped his fingers. "Come, we have work to do."

Just like my first day of work, I trailed my attending down the hallway like an obedient puppy dog. It didn't bother me, as much as it did the first time. I had gotten used to it actually.

"Hold these, Greeny." Doctor Nond shoved the pile of charts into my outstretched arms and led the way into a patient's room. "Mrs. Regan, how are you feeling today?"

"Just peachy," An older woman in her late sixties with curly salt and pepper colored hair replied. I had been treating Mrs. Regan for a week now with pulmonary embolism. Luckily for her, she was on her way to a full recovery.

"That's good to hear," Doctor Nond said and flashed the patient a fake smile, "you should be scheduled for release in the next two days, so don't try to strain yourself."

"Of course, doctor," She beamed at both of us. "How are you doing Doctor Queenscove?"

I have been working closely with Mrs. Regan the last week. I had actually been the one to diagnose and treat her. I liked her a lot and we even had a few friendly conversations about our personal lives. She had been my first patient, I had ever covered by myself without Doctor Nond's direct assistance and I was extremely pleased that she was doing well.

"I'm doing great, Mrs. Regan." I told her with a small smile.

"Please, I told you to call me Donna." She reminded me, though her tone of voice was still kind.

"Sorry, M- Donna,"

"We'll check in with you later Mrs. Regan." Doctor Nond said and gripped my shoulder tightly. "Come Greeny."

"Have a nice day Doctor Queenscove." I heard Mrs. Regan call, as I was being steered back into the hallway.

"Um, ow?" I said, while rubbing my shoulder.

"Jot this down in your diary Greeny. Don't try to get too close to patients. It usually comes back to bite you on the ass." Doctor Nond told me, already beginning his march down the hallway. "Come." He barked and snapped his fingers at me.

I ran to keep up with him.

"I don't know what the big deal is." I argued, barely able to stay at his heels. "I was just being friendly. Mrs. Regan is a really nice lady."

"This isn't daddy's little nursing home that is filled with bitter old war veterans that want to end their lives in comfort and Alzheimer crazies. We have patients that can die at any time." He informed me and I scowled at the jab towards my family's hospital, Queenscove Medical Center.

"Mrs. Regan isn't going to die." I shot back. "She's as stable as she's ever been."

"Sure, she might not kick the bucket, just yet, but someone else you try to get close with will. I guarantee it." Doctor Nond said, as he threw open the door to the ICU. "As much as I really, really hate to say it greeny, I am just trying to protect you from a career filled with pain."

I looked up at my attending and saw the truth in his words, by the rare sight of his softened expression.

"Thanks," I muttered.

"Don't mention it." He said and turned to face me, his brown eyes flashing dangerously. "Ever. Not even under pain of death Greeny because if you mention it to anyone at this hospital, my reputation as a hard ass slash social hermit will be thrown out the window here at Mercy General. I can guarantee it and it will be all your fault. And trust me when I say this, it won't end up pretty for you. You can bet your pink convertible on that princess."

Despite all the screams of warning in my head, I could feel my tongue getting ready for an answer that I knew would royally piss of my attending.

"Pink isn't really my color, Doctor Nond." I retorted, irritated about the recurring 'pink convertible' jokes, but immediately regretted it.

_Damn genetics and their desire to always make me be insubordinate._ I thought and remembered all the stories my Aunt Kel used to tell me about my father and her in the military. Neal, my dad, used to always give lip to his drill sergeant, Wyldon Cavall, that he had not so affectionately nicknamed, the Stump.

"Is that you being a wise ass, Greeny?" My attending asked, after he ran his weathered hands through his blonde hair. "What did I tell you about the whole back talking thing?"

"Do it and die?" I suggested mildly.

"Hit that one on the nail, Greeny. I'm glad to hear that you actually listen to a word I say." Doctor Nond said. "Though, then again, you're probably recording every word I ever utter in your presence with your secret spy equipment. Isn't that right?"

"Bingo," I muttered sarcastically and rolled my eyes. In the last three weeks, I had learned to ignore my attending's jibes that I was spying on him for my father. It was no use getting angry about them. He would never stop. No matter how much I insisted that my reasons working at Mercy General were not deceitful.

"Now that we've got that settled. Let's get back to rounds." Doctor Nond announced and we approached the bedside of Carl Grover, who got hit by a car last night

The rest of the morning passed in a blur of rounds. There were no crashing patients, no gunshot wounds. It was actually a quiet day at the hospital. I went to lunch with my attending feeling quite at ease and wondered how long it would last.

"Can't you sit with the two immature jocks and carrot top?" Doctor Nond asked me sulkily, his head lolling lazily in the two surgical interns, Scott Nicoline and Melvin Tarside, direction. They were presently flinging peas at each other. While Aidan Hill, who was sitting at the end of the table, glared at both of them. My other poor fellow intern, Teddy Jesslaw, got stuck at Doctor Grace's table again. His attending required him to sit with her, her boyfriend (a surgeon) and best friend, Doctor Zoey Veldaine at meals. "You're giving people the impression that I'm actually _nice_." He spat the last word out like poison. "Can you believe the guys in radiology had the balls yesterday to ask me out for a beer?"

"That's a bad thing?" I snorted in disbelief into my salad.

"Absolutely," He confirmed with a firm nod.

I shook my head.

"Have you ever had a friend in your entire life?" I asked him. "Or were you a hermit from birth?"

"Believe it or not Greeny, I was actually married at one point in my life." He told me in a weary tone of voice, running his right hand through his hair, and I couldn't help, but feel my eyebrows rise to my hairline. I couldn't picture Doctor Nond being married to anyone. He was just too mean to keep a steady relationship with another human being, let alone keep a relationship that required love.

"What happened to her?" I asked, trying to hide the curiosity in my voice.

Doctor Nond did a total one hundred-eighty and snapped back,

"None of your business,"

_Great, just when I was getting him to open up._ I thought with an inward sigh and tried my best to keep my frustration off my face, so that I wouldn't anger my attending even more. It was the first time Doctor Nond had ever mentioned his personal life in a conversation. He usually kept his conversations strictly work related.

"Sorry," I apologized.

I should have known that apologies don't work on my attending. He would still be angry, no matter what I said.

"Scram Greeny," Doctor Nond ordered in a cold tone of voice and pointed me away from the table.

I sighed and obediently picked up my tray. There was no use in arguing with him.

"Fine,"

I walked over to Scott, Melvin, and Aidan's table and let my tray fall down in a clatter.

"What's wrong?" Scott asked, as I poked, with an annoyed expression on my face, at my salad with a plastic fork.

"Doctor Nond just had one of his random angry spurts." I explained and groaned in aggravation. "I swear he's one of the most frustrating men on the planet!"

"What did you say to him?" Aidan asked with his usual smirk plastered on his face. He was probably happy that I had pissed off my attending. It seems that, his philosophy at the hospital was my irritation, his pleasure.

"I just asked him about his ex-wife," I told him, "and then he snapped at me."

Aidan rolled his eyes.

"_Everyone_ knows what happened between Doctor Nond's ex-wife and him." He announced in a cocky tone. "You're just an idiot for bringing it up."

"I don't know about Doctor Nond and his ex-wife." Melvin interjected and I smiled appreciatively at my fellow intern. I was happy that he had my back, when it came to dealing with Aidan Hill.

"Neither do I." Scott added.

"Apparently, not everyone knows Hill." I told him with my green eyes narrowed. "So, why don't you enlighten us?"

Just as Aidan opened his mouth to speak, my new beeper that I had received on my second shift, went off with a loud sharp noise. I immediately checked it and couldn't stop myself from cursing out loud. Mrs. Regan was coding.

_What the hell?_ I thought, completely bewildered. _She was perfectly stable this morning._

However, there was no time to think. I leapt out of my chair, leaving my salad behind, and literally sprinted out of the cafeteria. I didn't even check to see if Doctor Nond was behind me. I needed to save my patient.

Luckily, the crash cart was already in Mrs. Regan's room, when I got there, and my patient was surrounded by bustling nurses.

"Doctor, she went into cardiac arrest and started flat lining fifteen seconds ago." One nurse cried and handed me the defibrillator. The nurse had already placed the electrode pads to Mrs. Regan's chest and I yelled before, I pressed down with the AED,

"Clear!"

Mrs. Regan's body thumped on the bed, but there was no change in her heartbeat. I bit my lip in frustration, turned up the voltage, and yelled again,

"Clear!"

The AED sent another electric shock through Mrs. Regan's body. I looked at the monitor, praying for a change. There was none. I wiped the sweat off my forehead with my scrub sleeve, increased the voltage once more, and repeated,

"Clear!"

Again, the line that represented her heart beat remained flat.

"She's not coming back Greeny." Doctor Nond's words hit me like a slap in the face. I had not realized he was in the room, but there he was, observing me in the corner with his arms folded over his chest, the expression on his face unreadable.

"No, she was doing fine only a few hours ago. I'll bring her back." I insisted, trying to hide the pain in my voice, and shouted, "Clear!"

The heart stayed silent, not a single beat.

"It's over Doctor. I'm sorry." A nurse told me, her voice kind and sympathetic. She tugged the AED out of my numb hands and then asked me, "Could you call the time of death, please?"

Time of death? I shook my head in disbelief. There wasn't supposed to be a time of death for Mrs. Regan, at least not today. She was supposed to go home in two days and now her body was unnaturally still, her usually pink flushed cheeks now ghostly pale.

Somehow, I managed to read the time on my wristwatch.

"T-time of death… twelve forty six P.M.," I stuttered and with those words finally admitted defeat.

"Thank you, Doctor," The nurse said and patted my shoulder, before exiting the room.

I massaged my temples, as my brain rushed to process all of what had happened in the last few minutes and that is when it hit me. Mrs. Regan was my first patient to die under my care. A woman in almost perfect health had died under my care.

I snatched Mrs. Regan's chart off the end of her bed and stalked out of the room with it, not caring if I was making a scene. I didn't know where I was going, but I needed to be alone.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Doctor Nond yelled at me from down the hallway. He was still standing in the doorway of Mrs. Regan's room.

"I need sometime to think." I shouted right back, trying to push away the suffocating sensation of failure that was threatening to consume me.

I set off in a brisk pace towards the side door. I needed a breath of fresh air. Anything to clear my head at the moment would be welcomed.

Warm, stale air greeted me on the outside of Mercy General, but I found myself not caring and instead, sat down on the curb of the sidewalk. I buried my head in my hands, a million thoughts racing through my head.

Had I treated Mrs. Regan wrong? Did I not run fast enough from the cafeteria? Was I now going to be considered the worst intern in Mercy General history? Would Doctor Nond hate me for killing Mrs. Regan?

I flipped through Mrs. Regan's chart, trying to look for any inaccuracy, any mistake to explain what had just happened, except, everything was perfect. Every dosage, every procedure was correct. It just didn't make any sense. I must have made a mistake somewhere.

I moaned and put my head back into my hands, feeling totally defeated.

"Greeny," A soft voice jolted me back to the world around me. I had not even noticed that Doctor Nond was now sitting beside me.

"Yeah?" I asked, not even daring to meet my attending's eyes. I did not want to see the disappointment that probably shone through them. It would be unbearable at the moment.

"Mrs. Regan's death wasn't your fault." He said. His voice was still surprisingly soft. "I kept you in check every step of the way and that is exactly how I would have treated her. Any decision you made was always approved by me first, before being enacted."

"Really?" I hoped he wasn't just saying that to make me feel better, but then again, this was Doctor Nond I was talking to. He never tried to make anyone feel better, but his patients.

"Yes, you can ask the nurses." He insisted. "It's a shame that Mrs. Regan died, but there was truly nothing you could have done about it. Her death came too fast and too unexpectedly for anyone to save her. The autopsy will tell us what happened, but from what I can tell, you did a fine job with her."

I sighed and massaged my temples again.

"Look at me Greeny." He said with a firm tone and I found myself afraid to, as if a melting beam would come out of his eyeballs. "I said… look at me." He yanked my chin hard in his direction and I was forced to look into the face of my teacher. He didn't look angry, but in fact, genuinely concerned. "You better not beat yourself up over this. Promise me that because if you take it too far…" He shuddered. "Let's just say I've seen it ruin a couple of decent doctors and since you're my student, I can't have you fail. You need to be the best intern in this dump, so I can keep up my stellar reputation." I resisted rolling my eyes at this comment. Doctor Nond was so conceited sometimes. "So, man up or woman up in your case and get your ass back to work."

I nodded.

"Yes, Doctor Nond," I got up off the curb, though I still felt the sorrow weighing me down. Mrs. Regan and I had been close, closer than I had ever been with a patient. She would be hard to get over.

Luckily, for the rest of the day Doctor Nond didn't press me too hard. He didn't go on his usual winded speeches about me being a screw up, whenever I answered a question wrong or did a procedure incorrectly. Instead, he calmly explained whatever I said wrong or tweaked my faulty procedures

"Thanks for everything today Doctor Nond," I told him at the end of the day. We were both in the locker room, gathering up our things, before returning home.

"Don't mention it e-"

"Ever," I finished for him with a small smile.

Doctor Nond actually grinned back for the first time since I began my internship here at Mercy General.

"Glad to see you're finally catching on, Greeny." He said and clapped me on the back. "See you tomorrow."

"Bye Doctor Nond," I watched my attending leave, before returning to my own locker. I still needed to grab my wallet from it.

"Ah… so you're Doctor Queenscove." A voice made me jump and I spun around to see a surgeon leaning casually in the doorway. He was undeniably handsome. He had a tall, muscular frame with straight, white blonde hair and crystal blue eyes. "I've heard so much about you."

I flashed him a smile.

"You can call me Emma." I told him, ignoring my rapidly beating heart. _Damn him for being handsome,_ I thought, dismayed. "But, I am afraid I don't know your name."

"I'm Ian Stone." He said. A brilliant white smile followed his words. "I'm a surgical resident here."

"Nice to meet you." I stuck out my hand and he shook it with a firm grip.

"Same," He replied and then asked, "Are you off now?"

"Yeah, I just finished a twelve hour shift." I told him. "You?"

"Yep, I was ready to go out for the bar for a drink. Care to join me?" He asked.

I shrugged. I did not want to appear too eager that this handsome man was asking me out for a drink.

_Just keep it smooth. _I thought as encouragement to myself and then realized how ridiculous I sounded.

"Sure,"

"Cool, the bar is actually only a block away from here. It's called the California Tavern." Ian told me. "Would you like a ride there?"

I resisted the urge to role my eyes. What was with men thinking that we women were too weak to handle the simplest physical task without needing their help?

"I can walk. I need the exercise after all, being boarded up in here all day." I said.

He smiled.

"Let's get going then."

Ian and I left the hospital grounds together, initiating small talk on the way to the California Tavern. He was talking about one of his orthopedic surgeries he had to perform today, when he started to slow down.

"We're here." Ian informed me and pointed to a dingy sign that read, 'The California Tavern', in neon green letters. He held the door open for me, very gentlemanly and said, "It's not the best place in the world, but it is a decent price and it's always loaded with people."

Ian was right. It was only eight o'clock and the place was already filling up with people. We grabbed a table right next to the pool table. Where, to my surprise, Scott and Melvin were absorbed in a game.

"What are you two doing here?" I asked, after Ian left to go grab us drinks.

"We've been coming here for the last week. Doctor Carter in pediatrics told us about it and we decided to give it a try." Melvin told me, while Scott lined up his shot.

"So, who is the lucky guy?" Scott asked, after taking a sip of his Corona. "I've seen him around before in the OR, but I never got his name

"His name is Ian Stone." I informed them. "He just randomly approached me in the locker room after my shift and asked me out for drinks. So, I decided to go for it."

"Well, best of luck Queenscove," Melvin told me, as I spotted Ian returning with two beers in his hands, and then winked.

"Here are our drinks." Ian said with a grin and handed me a beer. I eagerly sipped the cold liquid, hoping to drown out my thoughts of Mrs. Regan, out in it. Her death was still eating away at my conscious.

"Thanks," I pulled out my wallet. "How much was mine? I'll pay for it."

He shook his head.

"This one is on me." Ian insisted with a smooth grin and then ran a hand through his white blonde hair.

"Thank you," I smiled back.

"So, you're a Queenscove…" He began. "That is quite a family name you carry."

"Yeah," I admitted, "it's tough sometimes, though, with everyone's expectations of you."

"I can only imagine." Ian agreed and took a sip of his beer. He looked back up and his beautiful blue eyes pierced my own. "So, why are you working at Mercy General? You could have anything you want at your family's hospital, interesting cases, more money, quicker promotions, and plus, you can't forget, all of the respect you would get for just being Doctor Neal Queenscove's daughter."

"Eh… I wanted more then just treating old people and the rich." I told him frankly.

"You're a funny girl," Ian told me with a heart stopping grin, "and not in a bad way, of course." He assured me, before my panic could set in. "You're just very noble and unselfish. You don't see that in people often. I know I would personally take old and rich people, over having Doctor Nond as my attending."

I couldn't help, but blush at the compliment.

"Thanks, I think." I said and laughed. "But, my attending isn't really that bad. He means well."

Ian frowned.

"Didn't he lock you in a supply closet on your first day of work?" He asked me with an incredulous expression on his face.

"Well, yes, but Doctor Nond and I have gotten over our differences." I told him firmly. "We are a perfectly functioning team now."

"Oh, that's bull, Emma," Ian said angrily to my surprise. "Everyone knows he treats you like crap. People talk. He berates you and makes you into his personal puppy dog. A Queenscove- I-I mean a nice, pretty girl like you shouldn't have to stand for that."

I smiled.

"Trust me. I am not weak. I can handle a tough doctor like Doctor Nond on my own. Despite, what everyone else at Mercy Generals believes." I told him. "Plus, you shouldn't believe everything people say. Doctor Nond's helped me out a bunch of times and he's a pretty decent guy under his hard shell."

Luckily, our conversation moved away from the touchy topic of Doctor Nond and we turned to our personal lives. Ian Stone had two other brothers, both in the military, and a younger sister that was at boarding school in Denver, Colorado. The most tragic part about his family was the he had no cousins on his father's side of the family because his Uncle Joren, who had also been in the military, had died at a young age.

My family luckily was not as tragic to talk about, though I did not mention to Ian that my father, grandfather, and I had not talked in almost a month. I spoke mainly about my mother, older sister, and twin brother who kept in touch and I had seen a couple times in the last two weeks. Ian was very fascinated in my family and he asked a lot of questions. I found myself shamed that I couldn't bring myself up to being as interested in his family.

"Do you know that guy?" Ian asked me, after I went off in a long description about my Great Grandfather, my grandmother's father, Emry Harse, who was a famous general in the United States army. He had unfortunately died five years ago, but I still remembered him clearly. The old stories he used to tell my siblings and I never ceased to captivate us.

I glanced over at the direction he was pointing at. A man with a L.A. Dodger's baseball cap and a plain blue t-shirt was staring right at us from a corner table. He sat alone and looked like he was brooding over something.

"Uh, I can't tell. It's too dark to see in here." I replied, feeling uneasiness rush over me. I wished that creeper would stop looking at us. He was making me extremely uncomfortable.

"I'll take care of him." Ian said, getting up abruptly from the table.

I felt the panic hit me and I leaned forward to grab his sleeve to tug him back down. I guess I overestimated my strength because I didn't move Ian an inch.

"Don't say anything." I begged him. "You don't know if he's some psychopath."

Ian shook his head.

"Trust me Emma," He yanked out of my grip, "I can handle this. Don't worry about anything."

I watched nervously, as Ian approached the man with the baseball cap's table. Ian paused in front of the table and I saw the two men engage in conversation. First, Ian looked surprised, then angry, and finally, he stormed off back in my direction.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, as he sat back down in his seat with a furious expression on his face.

"That 'weirdo' is your attending, Doctor Nond!" Ian snapped. "I asked him why the hell he was staring at us and then, instead of answering my question he starts to attack _me_ verbally."

My head whipped around in Doctor Nond's direction and found that he was still staring at us. Immediately, I began to glare at him fiercely in an attempt to make him understand how much I was despising him at the moment. Didn't he see I was attempting to have a social life outside the hospital? Why was he being such an asshole and trying to ruin my chances with Ian?

"Let me talk to him." I reasoned, trying to calm Ian down. I got up from my chair, but Ian latched right onto my wrist and tugged me back down, hard, into my chair.

"No, just ignore him." Ian told me in a cold voice. His blue eyes were flashing in fury. "He isn't worth our time."

I rubbed my sore wrist and felt my own anger rise up in me. Ian wasn't in charge of me. I could go over to talk to my own attending if I wanted to.

"But-" I began.

"Just drop it Emma." Ian snapped and sipped his beer with a hardened expression on his face.

I stubbornly crossed my arms over my chest.

"I am not a little girl. I can handle my own attending." I told him icily and got up out of my seat again.

Ian leapt out of his own chair and gripped me by my shoulders, before I could take a step in Doctor Nond's direction.

"I told you not to, Emma." He snarled.

"You're not the boss of me." I retorted and attempted to wrench myself out of his grasp. Unfortunately, I couldn't budge. "Let go of me!"

"No," Ian replied simply.

My own temper was starting to reach its snapping point. This guy might me be handsome, but he was a giant douche too. He hardly knew me and yet, he insisted on manhandling me like this.

"Let go of me now." I repeated.

"Just sit down." Ian insisted mulishly, his blue eyes flashing dangerously.

"I think she told you to let her go, Stone." A familiar weathered hand rested on Ian's shoulder. He released me instantly and spun around to face Doctor Nond, who looked as livid as I had ever seen him.

"This is none of your business, Nond." Ian snapped back. The hatred on his face was obvious and to me, hatred made him look hideous. "Why don't you go back to your corner and sulk about your pathetic life? Some of us are actually trying to have a good time."

Doctor Nond jerked his head in my direction.

"She doesn't look like she's having a good time." My attending informed Ian, ignoring his other comments. "In fact, I think she's had enough of you treating her so roughly. Haven't you Queenscove?"

I gaped at both men numbly. I didn't know what to say. If I said yes, I would ruin all chances I had with the unbelievably handsome Ian Stone, but if I said no I would be making my attending look like a fool. It was unfortunately a lose-lose situation.

"Uh…" I hesitated.

Luckily, Ian cut me off.

"Me treating her roughly?" He laughed a scornfully. "You're the one who locked her in a supply closet for five hours, Nond. Or do you drink so much that your memory becomes selective?"

Doctor Nond remained silent, but if the glare he gave Ian could melt his face off, it would have.

"Come on Emma. I've had enough of this joke that calls himself a doctor. Let's go." Ian grabbed my arm again and yanked me towards the door. I stumbled after him, off balance by the force he was pulling me along at.

We were soon back into the dry, hot air of Los Angles. Ian still had an iron grip on my arm, as he led me away from the California Tavern. We were a hundred feet away from the bar, when he stopped abruptly in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Why didn't you just fucking listen to me in there, when I told you to 'let it go'?" He snapped at me. "You could have just been obedient and sat down, but nooo, you had to make a fuss about it."

I rolled my eyes. He might be handsome, but he was so not worth the trouble.

"First of all, I don't have to listen to anybody, but myself. You're not in charge of me. I am." I informed him icily. My green eyes were crackling in fury. "Secondly, Doctor Nond might be cold hearted, but he's a lot better man then you. And thirdly-"

But, before I could finish my rant, Ian had slapped me on the side of my head. I winced as the blow knocked me side ways. Luckily, Ian still had a tight grip on my arm, or I would have fallen to the ground.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up," He shouted irately. "God, I just can't believe you said Doctor Nond was a better person than me. Are you fucking stupid? How could you even say that?"

"I think you just proved my point." I growled back at Ian, my head screaming from soreness, and then kicked him, with all the force I could muster, in the shins. He yowled like a wounded animal, releasing me from his grasp.

"You little bitch," Ian snarled and raised his hand to hit me again. I felt myself begin to flinch, as the fear started to wash over me.

Before I could blink, Ian was sprawled out on the ground, clutching his nose. Blood was dripping everywhere, making him swear worse than a sailor.

I stared in pure amazement at my attending, who had obviously just broken Ian Stone's nose. He looked angry, but as soon as he saw me gaping at him, his expression softened. Doctor Nond gently put a hand on my shoulder.

"Come on Queenscove. I'll walk you back to your car."

"Okay," I whispered, not even bothering to look back at Ian, who still was lying on the ground.

We walked in silence to Mercy General's parking lot.

"Where's your car parked?" Doctor Nond asked in a rough voice. I could tell he was trying to control himself.

A shaky hand pointed to my black Toyota Camry that was near the back of the parking lot. I didn't know why I was still scared. Ian was far away on a sidewalk, bleeding profusely from his nose and I was safe and secure with Doctor Nond. It didn't make any sense.

"Give me your keys. I'll drive you home." Doctor Nond told me with his hand stretched out.

"But, how are you going to get home?" I asked.

"I can walk." He replied simply.

"But L.A.'s dangerous at nigh-"

"Just give me your keys Queenscove." My attending demanded. "I'm trying to do you a favor."

"What is with you men and trying to be the boss of me today? I can handle myself God damn it." I shouted, my temper finally snapping. "I am twenty six, not eight!"

My attending rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, you sure 'handled' yourself today Greeny." Doctor Nond shot back sarcastically. "You 'handled' yourself pretty damn well with Mrs. Regan's death this afternoon and you just sure did a great job 'handling' Stone. So yeah, wonderful work 'handling' yourself Greeny, five fucking gold stars goes to you now."

"Go to hell." I growled, jamming my key into the lock.

"Look, all I am doing is trying to help you out, Greeny. So, will you just let me drive you home?" He demanded.

I snorted.

"Help me out? You?" I laughed bitterly. "All you did was ruin things for me tonight. Ian would have never acted that way, if you didn't spur him on like that by acting like a fucking creeper in the first place and then, trying to defend me in your dismal attempt to pretend your some noble guy. You just got me hurt worse in the end Doctor Nond. I just got a bruise on the side of my head for sticking up for you." I jabbed my finger into his chest and continued my tirade, "I really don't know what the hell I was thinking, by sticking up for you. For some reason, I don't know why, but I was actually under the illusion that you were somewhat decent guy." I scoffed at the idea. "I was wrong, though. You're still the same bitter, asshole that I met on the first day. You didn't help me for me." I was on the brink of tears now. "Y-you- you just helped me to keep your pride intact. You didn't want to see your own student, your own product, messed around with. That's all that it boils down to. You only see me as your product, not a person."

Doctor Nond stared at me blankly. He was obviously taken aback.

"So, thank you for saving me from getting clobbered by Ian Stone, but for future references, just stay out of my personal life. It doesn't concern you." I informed him icily, while sliding into my car. "As you said at lunch, 'mind your own business'."

Without another word, I pushed my keys into the ignition, shifted my car into reverse, and then slammed my foot on the gas pedal. My Camry hit forty as it flew out of the parking lot. I wanted to get as far away from Doctor Nond as possible.

* * *

Thank you to my two wonderful reviewers: Uncertain Destiny and NikeIsis. Thanks!

I hope there wasn't too much confusion with the name changes. Thanks for reading!


	3. Mean Streak

**My Own Way**

Chapter 3

_I took a chance, I took a shot  
And you may think I'm bullet-proof, but I'm not  
You took a swing, I took it hard  
And down here from the ground I see who you are_

_I'm sick and tired of your attitude  
I'm feeling like I don't know you  
You tell me that you love me and then cut me down_

_And I need you like a heartbeat  
But you know you got a mean streak  
That makes me run for cover when you're around_

_And here's to you and your temper  
You'll still remember what you said last night  
And I know that you see what you're doing to me  
Tell me why_

Taylor Swift- Tell Me Why

Disclaimer: I still own nothing.

* * *

Timing. This morning I had excellent timing. I had narrowly avoided the wrath of the head nurse, Delia Morrison. Unfortunately, my mom's phone call couldn't have come at worse timing.

I had just come into my apartment, exhausted, and crying. It had been a rough day for me. First, Mrs. Regan went into cardiac arrest on me and died. Then, after work, I went out for drinks with the unbelievably handsome surgeon, Ian Stone. It seemed like my day was going to end on a high note, for once. I was with a good looking man, he was buying me drinks, and I was actually having a great time. Unfortunately, my sort of date turned absolutely sour, when my hard ass attending, Doctor Jamie Nond, decided to concern himself with my social life. Long story short, my hot date slapped me, my attending broke my hot date's nose, and just twenty minutes ago I had just completely blown up on said attending.

All in all, my day had been a complete disaster.

So, it was completely understandable that my mom calling me was the last thing I wanted to happen. I love my mom. Don't get me wrong, but I honestly just wasn't in the mood to talk to her.

"Hi honey," My mom greeted, after I reluctantly picked up the phone.

"Hey mom," I said in a rough voice

God, I sounded a mess. I really hope my mom couldn't pick that up through the phone.

"What's wrong Emma?"

_Damn._

"Eh, just a tough day," I said, wincing as the phone brushed against my new bruise. "You know a long shift."

Okay, it wasn't really a long shift, only a twelve hour. I wasn't about to tell this to my mom, though.

"Oh honey, do you want me to call back later?" My mom asked in a concerned tone. "You sound like you need some sleep."

"No, no, no," I insisted. I might as well get it over now. "I'm fine." I added in a lie.

"You sure?" My mom questioned.

"Yes," I barely kept the exasperation out of voice.

"Well, the reason that I was calling you was to remind you that your dad's birthday party is this Saturday," I resisted the urge to groan. I had almost forgotten about that, "and I was wondering if you were planning on attending it."

"He doesn't want me there." I replied flatly.

My dad and I were currently in a rift over the fact that I chose to work at Mercy General, instead of at the family owned hospital, Queenscove Medical Center. I guess I hurt his feeling, over the fact that I'd rather be working for someone else, than him. It's understandable, but I tried to explain my reasoning with him _multiple_ times. Unfortunately, the last time I tried to explain, we both lost our tempers, said some pretty bad stuff to each other, and I had ended up storming out of my parent's house. So, that's why it's been almost two months, since my dad and I have uttered a single word to each other.

"Oh Emma, it's been two months since you've been home!" My mom cried in a rare emotional moment for her. My mom, Yuki, who was from Japan, didn't display her emotions too often in her facial expressions or tone of voice. It was all a part of her culture that I admittedly found kind of odd sometimes. "I miss you so much and I know your dad does too, even if he is being extremely stubborn and won't admit it."

I sighed.

"I'll think about it." I finally said to appease her.

I heard my mom draw in a deep breath through her mouth.

"Fine," She told me. "The party starts at four." I knew she wanted to say more, possibly start begging me to come, but instead, she said, "Goodnight honey,"

"G'night mom," I replied, before hanging up the phone.

Ten seconds later, I had collapsed onto my bed.

_Ugh._

* * *

The next morning, I didn't pick up Doctor Nond's coffee from Katz's like he asked. I decided that this action, or should I say lack of action, would inform my attending that I was still really pissed off from last night without having to express my feelings verbally.

I'll admit that I hadn't been so nervous to enter the hospital, since my first day. I wondered if Doctor Nond would just act like nothing happened, blow up in my face for blowing up in his, or would actually want to talk about it with me.

I shuddered at the last thought.

_Oh god, what an awkward conversation that would be._

Secretly, I just hoped that Doctor Nond had taken ill last night and wouldn't come into work today.

_That would be like a dream come true._ I thought wistfully, as I entered through the side door of Mercy General.

Unfortunately, my dreams were shattered early, when I spotted my blonde haired attending. He was standing in his usual spot next to the nurse's station with a scowl clearly visible on his face.

I decided that I felt extra brave today and without even greeting Doctor Nond, I went right up to Nurse Rita and asked her for my attending's charts. She happily gave them over to me and then, I was unfortunately forced to return to Doctor Nond.

"Here," I said and brusquely handed the manila folders to my attending.

Doctor Nond grunted something, before leafing through his charts.

"Come," He told me with a snap of his fingers, a minute later, and I reluctantly walked behind him. I knew it was immature, but I didn't want to walk next to him. I was still continuing my 'I'm angry, but I am not expressing it verbally' mode. "Can you keep up princess or do you want me to fetch your horse and carriage?" Doctor Nond barked, when he noticed that I purposely wasn't keeping in stride with him.

I narrowed my eyes at my attending, before reluctantly jogging a few steps to catch up him. In silence, we rounded a corner, before Doctor Nond stopped abruptly and entered a patient's room.

"First patient, Mrs. Caroline Walsh, age seventy-seven and suffering from renal failure," Doctor Nond rounded off. "Her kidneys aren't responding to drugs, so how are we going to treat her?" He didn't look up from his chart.

_God, he can't even meet my eyes. Coward._

"Dialysis," I replied, before smiling down at the patient.

Mrs. Walsh was a kind, old woman, who had unfortunately been in the hospital for a week. One thing about Mrs. Walsh was that she was quite observant, despite her old age. Mrs. Walsh always knew when I was upset or if I hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before. So, it came to no surprise when she asked me,

"Dear, how did you manage to get that awful bruise on the side of your head?"

I shifted on my feet awkwardly. I knew this question was going to come up soon. One side of my forehead had turned a vibrant shade of purple this morning, so it wasn't unnoticeable. However, I didn't exactly want to tell my patient that a male surgeon had slapped me. It would make the hospital look bad.

"I fell last night in my kitchen and hit my head on the counter top." I lied. "I'm pretty clumsy."

I heard Doctor Nond let out a sharp breath of air and I turned around to see my attending run one of his weathered hands, through his blonde hair.

"Is there something wrong, doctor?" Mrs. Walsh asked my attending.

"Nope, there's nothing wrong at all." Doctor Nond said in a strained voice and then glanced over at me. "Gossip time is over, Queenscove." He barked at me. "There will be plenty of time for you ladies to chit chat about the latest episode of Oprah later."

"See you later, Mrs. Walsh." I told the patient, ignoring my attending's jab, before trailing him out of the room.

Our morning passed in an awkward and tense silence. I knew it was starting to get to Doctor Nond because he literally screamed bloody murder at the lab technician for not having a blood culture result ready for him, when we came to pick them up. I know my attending could be mean, but I've never seen him scream straight out at someone before.

For lunch, I decided to continue Doctor Nond's silent treatment and sat with Melvin, Scott, and Aidan. Once again, Teddy was in the grasp of his attending, so he couldn't join us. However, I was only really concerned about keeping my attending in my peripheral vision. I watched him take a seat by himself in the corner.

"Trouble in paradise?" Aidan Hill asked with a smirk, forcing me to turn to look in his direction.

I rolled my eyes.

"Shut up, Hill," I snapped at the annoying intern.

"Oh, very touchy," That stupid smirk was still on his face. "What happened? Was Doctor Nond really the one to give you that lovely bruise on your head? Because that's what everyone's saying."

"What do you mean that's what everyone's saying?" I cried, while my eyes widened. I hadn't realized that I was the hot gossip topic of the day. "Doctor Nond didn't lay a finger on me!"

"Not according to your little boy toy from last night," Melvin informed me, after taking a bite of his burger. "He was telling everyone that Doctor Nond hit you outside a bar and he tried to defend you, but then Doctor Nond broke his nose."

"That lying bastard," I growled, feeling my fists clench. I couldn't believe this. Ian Stone had the audacity to act like he was the one who had been wronged upon!

"So, what really happened then?" Scott asked, not bothering to hide the curiosity from his voice.

"Doctor Stone slapped me on the side of the head and was about to hit me again, when Doctor Nond decked him." I explained, leaving out most of the important details. I didn't want everyone in the hospital to know what had spurred on Doctor Stone to hit me. That would be embarrassing.

"Awesome," Scott said in a tone of awe. "I wish I was there to see that."

"Scott!" I cried, clearly offended.

"Sorry, but it would have been cool to see Doctor Stone decked." Scott told me. "He can be such an arrogant asshole in surgery sometimes. Trust me. He deffinently deserved it."

"I think she's more offended that you think it's 'awesome' that she was slapped." Aidan pointed out with a sigh.

"Dude, you're such an idiot." Melvin told his best friend with a shake of his head.

Scott's eyes widened.

"Oh no, Emma- you see I was just- I would never think-"

"It's fine Scott." I told him with a roll of my eyes. "I know what you're trying to say."

"Thanks," The surgeon muttered.

I finished my lunch, before getting up from my table abruptly.

"Where are you going?" Melvin asked. "We still have ten minutes left in our lunch break."

"I need to talk to someone." I told them vaguely. I didn't want my fellow interns knowing that I planned to confront Doctor Stone, or they might try to stop me. I had spotted him entering the cafeteria five minutes ago with two other surgeons, so he wouldn't be too hard to track down.

I was right. He wasn't too difficult to find. I saw a glimpse of pale blonde hair and marched right towards it.

"You lying, dirty bastard," I growled. "I should break your nose again."

"Hey, back off bitch." One of Ian's friends snapped.

"It's okay Genlith, let her talk." Ian said with a cocky smirk that made my blood boil. "You like the rumors that are being spread about you and Doctor Dickhead?"

"You better tell everyone it's not true, or I'll make sure this entire hospital knows exactly how I got this bruise." I snapped.

"Hmm…" He admired the bruise with his cold, blue eyes, totally ignoring my last threat. "One of my better works, don't you think guys?"

The other two surgeons chuckled.

"You're disgusting." I spat. "I can't believe you feel good about hitting a girl, that's equivalent to feeling good about stealing candy from a baby."

"You're feisty." Ian observed with the same slimy smirk. "Too bad I didn't get you back to my apartment. You would have been fun to play around with."

I grimaced at the thought.

"Just tell everyone that Doctor Nond didn't hit me and I'll leave you alone." I told him in a strained voice. My patience was deffinently thinning.

"No," He replied simply. "This is payback for last night."

"I'm warning you Stone." I snarled.

"What the hell do you think you can do to me?" Ian asked with a bitter laugh. "You couldn't even stop me from slapping you in the first place."

I don't know if I've ever experienced something in slow motion before, but at that very moment, time seemed to slow down for me. I could feel the pent up anger finally burst out of me in full force. Before I could stop myself, my hand wound up and made contact with Doctor Ian Stone's cheek.

"Tell them." I hissed and noticed that everyone in the room had turned in our direction.

"You little bitch," He growled at me and winced in obvious pain. I must have hit his nose, while slapping him.

_Go me._

"What are you going to do about it?" I shot back coldly, knowing that all eyes in the cafeteria were trained on us.

"You'll pay for this later." Doctor Stone murmured, so only I could hear him and then cleared his throat. "Okay, I just want to dispel the rumor that I started this morning. Doctor Nond never touched or punched the intern. I lied." He turned back to me with a murderous look on his face. "Happy bitch?"

"Extremely,"

I turned on my heel and left the cafeteria immediately. I didn't have the desire to be questioned or watch people gossip about me. I was halfway down the hallway, when a familiar voice shouted,

"Greeny, wait up!"

I stopped in my tracks and saw that my attending was jogging to keep up with me.

"Oh, it's _you_."

Our gazes met in an electrifying fashion and, for some reason, I couldn't tear my green eyes away from his dark brown ones. It was like I was stuck in some kind of bind of his.

_Damn him._

"Yeah, it's me greeny. Good observation." Doctor Nond grunted and ran his hand through his blonde hair. "Look, enough of this silent treatment bull. We really need to talk."

I laughed bitterly.

"You want to talk?" I asked with a tone of disbelief. I still had some adrenaline from my run in with Doctor Stone and I was more than happy to use it on my attending. "You never want to talk to anyone! And now, you suddenly have this great urge to talk?" I shook my head. "Just save your breath, Doctor Nond. I know whatever is about to come out of your mouth doesn't mean a thing. You're just trying to protect your product again, not me."

I watched Doctor Nond clench and then unclench his fists. Then, before I could even blink, he had a tight grasp around my wrist and was pulling me into an empty patient's room. Shortly after that, I was slammed against the wall. He pinned me down with his left hand and his face was now inches away from mine.

"You really have no idea how much you infuriate me Queenscove. I swear, right now, I think I'm actually seeing red from your own stupidity." My attending growled. My heart beat accelerated, not over the fact that he had me pinned against a wall, but because I was very conscious of the fact that we were so close that I could feel his hot breath on my face. "Do you honest to God think that I don't see you as a person, Queenscove? Are you that much of an idiot?"

"You act like I'm not a person." I whispered, remembering my imprisonment in the supply closet, and then realized that I was trembling. Why was I so scared?

"Queenscove, you are very much a person to me." Doctor Nond admitted softly. He still sounded very angry, though. "Hell, you are the only person in this hospital that I can stand to be in my presence more than thirty seconds without giving me the desire to rip my own hair out."

"Really?"

I stared up at him with wide eyes.

Doctor Nond exhaled noisily.

"Come on greeny. Do I ever say anything I don't mean?" He questioned me with an exasperated expression on his face.

"Good point." I muttered.

"So, does this mean things are back to normal?" My attending asked. "No more little girly silent treatments or annoying mood swings?"

"I guess so." I said.

Doctor Nond finally released me.

"Thank God," He said in an overly dramatic fashion and ran his hands through his hair. "Well, this heart to heart was a lot of fun Greeny, but I'd really like to get back to work. We have patients to treat." Before I could blink, my attending was already out the door.

Damn, he was fast today.

However, I ignored that thought and stared blankly at the wall ahead of me in a state of shock. Had that really all just happened? Doctor Nond actually saw me as more than a pair of scrubs? I couldn't believe it.

A snap of someone's fingers interrupted my thoughts. Doctor Nond was standing in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Are you coming princess or do you need more time to paint your toenails?" He asked me sternly.

"Yeah, I'm coming." I replied slowly, shaking myself out of my daze and then, followed Doctor Nond out the door.

My attending already had a good twenty feet on me, so I trotted to keep up with him. We were finally walking in stride with one another, when I heard Doctor Nond say the best thing I had heard all day.

"By the way Greeny," Doctor Nond was still walking at a fast pace and looking straight ahead, "that was one hell of a slap, you dished out to Stone. I didn't know you had it in you."

I smiled.

"Thanks Doctor Nond,"

* * *

"Why the long face, Greeny?" Doctor Nond asked me, during our Friday night shift. It was a surprisingly slow night, so we were hanging out in the doctor's lounge.

While sitting here, I had been having an internal debate on whether I should go to my dad's birthday party or not. I didn't want to get into an argument with him on his birthday, but I also didn't want to upset my mom. It was basically a lose-lose situation.

"My dad's birthday is tomorrow." I told him with not one ounce of enthusiasm in my voice.

My attending's eyebrows rose.

"Did you forget to get him a gift or something?" He questioned me and I admired Doctor Nond for remaining civil. Let's just say he wasn't the biggest fan of my dad and his hospital.

"No, I'm not sure if I want to go to his party or not." I admitted, surprised I was opening up to my attending about this. He was the last person I expected to be talking about family problems with, especially because he hated my family.

"Why wouldn't you go? He's your father." Doctor Nond said.

"We haven't talked for two months now." I told my attending.

I swear Doctor Nond almost fell off the couch he was sitting on, that's how surprised he was. I guess he still had this whole concept in his mind, from my first day at Mercy General, that I was communicating all of his secrets to my dad with spy equipment.

"What? Why the hell not, Queenscove?"

I shrugged.

"Well, when I was seven and announced that I wanted to be a doctor, I sort of was destined to work at my family's hospital." I explained. "So, when I told my dad and grandpa I wanted to work here instead, they got really angry at me. I think I insulted their pride or something, like their own daughter and granddaughter would rather work for someone else than them. So, two months ago my dad and I broke out in this huge fight, I stormed out of my parent's house, and I haven't spoken to him since."

Doctor Nond ran his hand through his hair and gnawed his bottom lip. I knew he wanted to say something really mean about my dad, but was holding back. I thanked him for it silently. I had no desire to get into an argument with my attending at the moment.

"It sounds like you're in a pickle, Greeny." He said.

I nodded.

"What do you think I should do?" I asked, looking up at my attending expectantly. I couldn't believe myself. I was actually going out on a limb and asking Doctor Nond for family advice. It was almost to the equivalence of the apocalypse.

"Go on Doctor Phil." My attending replied starkly. "I mean come on, Greeny. Do I actually look like I dish out advice to people about their personal problems? And plus, you know how much I despise your father. He's like the devil to me." I rolled my eyes. That was a typical Doctor Nond response. "Oh, and Greeny, I really hope the spy equipment picked that one up and transmitted it over to your daddy's lair. It will make for an excellent, 'Who's the best doctor in the state?' dinner next year."

"Very clever," I remarked sarcastically, "because you still think I'm a spy?"

"Hit that one on the button." Doctor Nond replied cheerfully.

I rolled my eyes again. I needed advice from someone who didn't think my dad should jump off a cliff and die. I needed to ask someone who knew my dad well enough to tell me honestly, if it would be wise or not to show up at my dad's party tomorrow.

"Kel," I muttered my aunt's name under my breath.

"What was that Greeny?" My attending asked.

"I'll be right back." I told Doctor Nond. "I need to use the bathroom." I added in a lie. My attending wouldn't appreciate it, if I made personal phone calls during my shift.

"Fine, but don't spend too long in there fixing your tiara." Doctor Nond warned me.

I shook my head, as I got up and made a beeline for the bathroom. After I locked myself in a stall, I whipped out my cell phone and punched in my aunt's number.

It rang twice, before my aunt answered it.

"Colonel Keladry Masbole speaking."

"Hey, Aunt Kel, it's me, Emma." I greeted.

"Emma! What a surprise it is to hear from you!" My aunt replied. We hadn't seen or spoken to each other in a while. Mainly because my aunt was very busy with her job at Los Angles' military base and I now spent my entire life at the hospital. Usually, we just saw each other at my parent's house, but since I hadn't been there in two months…

"Yeah, it's been so long since I've talked to you, Aunt Kel." I said, trying to keep the sadness out of my voice. I didn't want my aunt to know how unhappy I was because I haven't seen much of my family in the last two months. "How are you and Uncle Dom?"

We made quick small talk from there about how our lives were going, before I asked the question that had been on my mind for the last twenty minutes.

"My mom invited me to my dad's party on Saturday," I began, "and you know my dad better than anyone. Do you think I should go or would we just get into another argument and spoil the party? Does he even miss me enough that he would want me there?"

There was silence on the other line, before my Aunt Kel's confident voice gave me my answer that I needed,

"Oh Emma, of course he misses you. I know that for a fact. Your dad is just being his typical self, a stubborn Meathead." We both laughed at this use of my Uncle Dom's nickname for my dad. "Anyway, I think, without a doubt, that you should come to the party tomorrow. It would make Neal- I mean your dad, very happy. Your mother too," My Aunt Kel added in an afterthought.

"Fine, I'll be there." I told my aunt, while trying to ignore the gut feeling that I would regret this later.

"Great, I can't wait to tell Dom. He'll be excited to see his favorite niece." Aunt Kel said enthusiastically.

"See you tomorrow, Aunt Kel," I bade my aunt farewell with a grin on my face. I had to admit talking to Kel had really lifted my spirits.

"Bye Emma,"

I snapped my phone shut and exited the stall.

"Making personal phone calls, Greeny?"

Doctor Nond's voice made me jump with surprise. My attending stood there with a wicked grin on his face and his arms folded over his chest.

Damn, I was caught red handed.

"Uh, you do realize this is a woman's room, right?" I countered, trying to draw my attending off topic.

"I'm well aware." Doctor Nond retorted, still looking cool and confident, and totally unruffled by the fact that he was in a bathroom meant for the opposite sex. "I was beginning to wonder what was taking you so long, so, like a good teacher, I decided to check on you. God forbid you knock yourself unconscious, while I'm duty." He sighed and then went off into another spiel. "Unfortunately, if you did, then I'd have to be the unlucky bastard, who'd have to whisper all the reassurances in your dainty little ears, while you moan and groan on your goose feathered pillow. Trust me Greeny. That would be the last thing on the entire planet I would like to be doing on my Friday night." I rolled my eyes. It was such a typical insult from my attending. "So, now you know why I would risk my own masculine self being to come into this restroom."

"Good to know." I muttered.

"Anyway, back to my original question. Why were you making personal phone calls, Greeny?" He asked me with a stern look on his face. "Because, if I so do recall, 'personal' phone calls are supposed to be made during 'personal' time. Not during 'work time'."

"It was important." I argued.

"Complaining to your aunt about how miserable your life is and trying to get assurance, that your daddy really loves you, isn't that important, Queenscove." My attending shot back coldly.

Ouch.

"How long were you listening for?" I asked with narrowed eyes, feeling a stinging sensation from Doctor Nond's last jab.

"Long enough to make me consider chopping off my own ears, so I wouldn't have to listen to your annoying whining anymore,"

"You can be such an ass sometimes." I growled and knew that my self control was slipping quickly. I needed to rein it in, before I said something really, really stupi- "Is that why your ex-wife left you in the first place?"

Opps, too late.

There was a complete silence in the bathroom and my brain only allowed one thought to continuously run through my head,

_Shit. Did I really just say that? _

Doctor Nond stared openly at me with his bitter, brown eyes. He too was shocked that I had said such an awful thing.

"Look Doctor Nond-" I began to apologize, but it was too late. My attending had already swept out of the bathroom and left me standing there, feeling absolutely terrible.

"Damnit," I muttered, before kicking the nearest stall.

* * *

_Abort mission! Abort! Abort! _

My mind screamed bloody murder at me, as I made my way up my parent's long driveway and towards my old home. However, I chose to ignore it. Unfortunately, this isn't the first time I've swept my own common sense under the rug. I shuddered, just thinking about all of those other disastrous occasions that I ignored my own common sense, as I hesitantly knocked on the front door.

Yes, I decided to follow my Aunt Kel's advice and came to my dad's birthday party. And yes, I do realize that this could be the biggest mistake I've ever made in my entire life. Well, besides the mistake I made yesterday, when I made a comment about Doctor Nond's ex-wife. That was a _big_ mistake, deffinently top ten status.

I shook my head, as I waited for the front door to open, and tried to erase the images of that incident out of my mind. It seemed like my attending's shocked face was going to be permanently implanted in my brain.

_Ugh_. _Note to self: become reacquainted with your common sense. It saves you a lot of pain and as an extra bonus; it prevents a lot of those pesky eternal mental images that never seem to leave me alone._

_Hence, eternal, you moron,_

_Touché._

"Emma!" My mom cried and engulfed me in a bone crushing hug. For such a small woman, my mom sure had a lot of strength.

A smile made its way onto my face, as I looked fondly down upon my mom. She was short, five feet two inches, and plump. Her silky black hair had a few streaks of grey, but besides that, she still had a very youthful appearance that I hoped that I would have one day, when I'll be her age.

"Hi mom," I said with a chuckle. "How are you?"

"Great, now that my baby has finally returned home." My mom beamed at me. I had never seen her this happy before, which brought around a pain of guilt for me. I barely wanted to be here. "Oh, I just can't wait to tell everyone you came."

"Perfect," I muttered sarcastically, as I watched her scurry excitedly away, probably towards the parlor, where everyone was currently was.

I stood in the foyer for a moment to collect myself and I curiously gazed around. Nothing much had changed since I was here last. Family photos still lined the walls, my mom's favorite Japanese vase was still displayed proudly in the corner, and the expensive carpet my older sister's dog, Snuggles, had thrown up on when I was in seventh grade, was still on the floor.

"Are you coming to the party, twiny, or are you just going to stand there all day?"

My twin brother, Emmet, entered the foyer with an amused expression on his face. Unlike me, Emmet was the good child, who was obediently working at my family's hospital. He was interning as a surgeon there.

"What's with the beard?" I countered.

My twin's face was always clean shaven, but now it had black fuzz on it.

"I think it makes me look older." He defended.

"More like ridiculous," I laughed and watched him scowl. "I'm only kidding Emmet." I told him, before striding over and pulling my twin into a hug. He returned it, but with only a small amount of enthusiasm.

"How are you?" I asked him.

"Living the high life," Emmet replied sarcastically with a grin. "I just came off a double shift and drove directly from the hospital here."

"Nice," I told him and could totally relate to how he must be feeling at the moment. I had pulled a couple double shifts myself in the last month and I was ready to collapse and die after each one. "I have a night shift, so I've got to cut out of her at six thirty to get ready. But maybe, if dad throws me out before then, I'll come into work early."

"He won't throw you out." Emmet reassured me. "Just go in there. He's dad. He isn't that scary."

I sighed and memories of our big fight crept up into my head. No, my dad could certainly be scary, when he put his mind to it.

"Fine, but is Emiko in there?" I asked, referring to my older sister, who was currently a Sergeant in the military.

"Yeah, big sis is here and so is Byron." My twin brother told me.

I smiled. It would be good to see my sister and cousin. We hadn't been out for drinks in almost a month. Our lives had unfortunately become too chaotic for us to keep up with one another.

"Let's go, then." I said, holding back a sigh.

God, this was going to be painfully awkward.

I entered the parlor with my chin held high. I felt like I had something to prove. Like, I had to show my family and my dad's friends that I wasn't ashamed with my decision to work at Mercy General and that I wasn't coming to this party, just to prostrate myself before my dad and beg for his forgiveness. I didn't need to be forgiven. I had done nothing wrong.

Luckily, the parlor was jammed pack with people, so my entrance wasn't as dramatic, than I had originally imagined. My family made up most of the crowd, but there were also my dad's close friends from the military and even some of his hospital coworkers.

A black blur came darting towards me and it took me a moment to realize after I had been literally tackled, that I was actually receiving a hug from my older sister, Emiko.

"Emma!" She shrieked with her black curls bouncing on her shoulders, as she jumped up and down.

Unfortunately, this over joyous reaction from my eldest sibling had caused the majority of heads in the room to turn in my direction and I could feel my skin burning from the amount of eyes on me. Here was the big reaction to my entrance that I thought I was originally going to receive.

"Hey Emiko," I greeted her with a light pat on the back.

"Just ignore everyone Emma." Emiko whispered in my ear. "You have no idea how happy mom is right now that you're here, so don't skip out."

"I promise." I whispered in return, though I knew Emiko could tell there was hesitance in my voice. "It's really good to see you Emi."

"I know. I know." She muttered. "Now, go say hi to everyone else. They're so excited to see you."

My cousin Bryon, who was coincidentally one of my best friends, came up next to engulf me. He was an officer in the army, so his muscular arms nearly suffocated me.

"It's been too long, Emma." He told me. "I was starting to really miss my favorite Meatheadest cousin."

"I know." I whispered into his chest, not bothering to contain my grin.

From there, I was crushed by almost every single relative in my family and a few of my dad's friends, like Alanna Swoop, Tobe Boon, Cleon Kennan, and even the mayor of Los Angles, Roald Conte`. Two people that I hoped wouldn't stay away did, though. My dad and grandpa remained in the corner of the room, chatting away, while sipping on their drinks.

"What's wrong?" Bryon asked, when he noticed the scowl I was wearing.

I nodded in my dad and grandpa's direction.

"Eh, they'll come around." He thrust a beer into my hand. "Drink up. This is your only opportunity to get free alcohol." Bryon grinned crookedly at me.

"I can only have a little. I have a shift starting at 7:30." I informed my cousin, as I screwed the cap off.

"Bummer, I was hoping if I got you drunk this party would be less of a snooze." Bryon said, making me glare at my cousin. "C'mon Emma admit it that you are the funniest drunk in all of L.A."

"Excuse me, but wasn't it you who stood on top of that table last year and sang 'Small Town Girl' for the entire bar to hear?" I reminded Bryon slyly. "Now that I think automatically crowns you as the funniest drunk in all of L.A."

The next hour and half consisted of me being smothered by all of my relatives and my parent's friends. All of them seemed to want to know every intricate detail of my life from work to my new friends to even embarrassingly enough, my current dating situation.

Finally, I had somehow found air from the mob and I was now leaning against a wall, sipping on a glass of water. All of the talking had made me extremely thirsty.

"So, you're the Queenscove family's prodigal son or should I say, prodigal daughter?"

A curvaceous, curly haired brunette sauntered over to me. I've never met her before, so I assumed she was one of my dad's colleagues. She looked nice enough, but for some reason she had a weird, pompous air around her that made me wary.

"Yes, that would be me." I faked a smile and held out my hand for the curvaceous woman to shake. "Emma Queenscove,"

"Doctor Mimi Eldorne," The woman returned. "I work in your father's dermatology department."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Doctor Eldorne." I replied politely.

"Please, just call me Mimi." The woman insisted. "I hear that you work at Mercy General, Emma."

"Yes, I'm interning there in internal medicine." I said.

"That was my old hospital, Mercy General." She told me.

I didn't bother to hold back my surprise.

"You worked at Mercy General?"

"Oh yes, I worked there for three years, before I made the move over to Queenscove Medical Center." Mimi replied. "Who's your attending?"

_Wow, this woman doesn't slow down with her questions._ I thought, taking a sip of water, before replying.

"Doctor Nond," I told her, feeling a little guilt rise up in my chest from the mention of my teacher's name. I still felt pretty bad for the ex-wife comment yesterday.

Mimi's eyes started to widen, before she burst out into laugher.

"Wow, he must really love you." She said in a sarcastic tone. "I can't believe Greg would do that to him. Jamie must have pissed him off big time."

"Excuse me?" I asked, now very confused. Mimi was still laughing.

"Sorry, this is too rich." She apologized, while wiping the corners of her eyes. "Did you ever wonder why Jamie hates Queenscove Medical Center so much?"

"Well, I always thought it had something to do with the whole rivalry between him and my dad for the 'Best Doctor in the State' thing." I admitted sheepishly and immediately knew that it was the wrong answer from the strange look on the older woman's face.

Mimi laughed even harder this time.

"Not even close, kid." She told me. "You see… I'm Jamie's ex-wife."

I felt my jaw slacken in complete shock. I couldn't believe that this entire time I was talking to the woman, whose mere mentioning turned Doctor Nond into someone even nastier than usual. The same woman, who I've been trying to find out more about ever since Doctor Nond got all snappy about her over lunch last week.

"Why'd you split up?" I asked, before I could restrain myself, and then babbled an apology, "Sorry, sorry, I don't mean to pry. You don't have to answer."

_Stupid, rude curiosity_, I thought, mentally slapping myself.

"Eh, it's fine." Mimi waved it off like it was no big deal. It was the complete opposite reaction of her ex-husband, who would have been on a war path by now. "Well, I'll admit I screwed over Jamie pretty badly. I still feel kind of guilty over the whole thing. It was a real slap in the face for him… but enough rambling. Here's the story."

_Whoa, I'm getting the full story. Jackpot!_ I thought, before turning my full attention on Mimi. I didn't want to miss a thing because I doubted that I would ever hear the story again.

"Well, three years ago I was in my first year of marriage with Jamie and I was sent to some dermatology conference in Seattle. That's where I met Doctor Roger Eldorne Junior, RJ, for the first time. He was the head of the dermatology department at Queenscove Medical Center. RJ was charming, handsome, rich, and funny. There wasn't anything not to like about him. We hit it off extremely well in Seattle and we promised that we would continue see each other in L.A. It was the perfect romance and God, Jamie was so stupid. I don't know how he didn't realize what was happening. He's usually sharp on everything, especially medical stuff, but this…" She laughed, "this he had no clue about."

I suddenly felt my fists clench and the small amount of respect I held for the woman immediately deteriorated. My eager mood deffinently did a one-eighty and I felt resentment wash over me. How could this woman have been so cruel to Doctor Nond? She was actually laughing at him. How dare her.

"The best part of the entire thing was when I got pregnant with RJ's baby," Mimi continued, "and I told Jamie that it was his, just to keep the charade up. Jamie loved his not really son, Max. God, he really did and that's why it crushed him, when I gave him the divorce papers on Max's first birthday. I kind of threw in the part about Max not really being his son also.

"I mean, you've seen Jamie blowup in people's faces before, right?" I nodded, trying my best not to rip the smirk right off that devil woman's face. "Well, anything you've seen before was nothing compared to Jamie's reaction to the news. I swore that he was actually going to hurt me and the baby. So, I ran out of his apartment with my son and reunited with RJ. We were married the day after the divorce was final. RJ got me a job at Queenscove Medical Center and that's where I am today."

"Wow, what a touching story," I told the woman sarcastically with a look of disgust on my face.

Mimi stared at me.

"Are you actually defending Jamie?" She spat out, looking flabbergasted. "Because I am absolutely positive that he only treats you like an annoying piece of gum on the bottom of his shoe, so I really don't understand why you would care so much to do so."

"Yeah, I am because I don't think I've ever heard of such a soulless act in my entire life." I snapped. "It's no wonder why he's so bitter. Do you even realize what you've done to him?"

"I'm well aware." Mimi retorted. "I already told you that I was kind of guilty about it. Isn't that enough?"

"Hardly enough," I said, through clenched teeth. "Why you live your happy life with a 'charming husband', a good job, and a son, Doctor Nond is completely miserable."

To be honest, I don't really know why I was butting my head into my attending's business with his ex-wife. It wasn't my place, but something really ticked me off about the woman. Maybe, it was how she laughed about hurting Doctor Nond's feelings, or how she called him stupid, or maybe it was that she was only 'kind of guilty' about emotionally scarring the man. However, to go back to me meddling with Doctor Nond's business; I guess it all just boiled down to paying back my attending. He defended me against Doctor Stone and now I was defending him against this soulless witch.

Unfortunately, Mimi had other ideas why I was 'meddling'.

"You're taking this pretty hard for a person who's only his student." She drawled with a smirk on her face. "Are you sure you don't like Jamie more than a student should like their teacher?"

"He's my friend." I shot back, ignoring the heat rising up my neck.

"Jamie has no friends." Mimi retorted. "So, that means you have feelings for my ex-husband." She laughed cruelly. "This is absolutely brilliant. All I've got to say to you is this: have fun being crushed little girl."

Before I could protest, Mimi had spun away and was sauntering over to a tall man with black hair and a beard. She planted a more than platonic kiss on his lips and started chatting perkily with him. Mimi was probably spreading the news that I had feelings for Doctor Nond and she and the bearded man were both having a good laugh about it.

I sighed, after I took a sip of water from my bottle, and wished that I could just rewind time to stop myself from talking to Mimi Eldorne in the first place. It would have saved me a great deal of embarrassment.

_Oh, that's such a bull._ _You know you've been dying to find out more about Doctor Nond and his ex-wife, since the day she was first mentioned. You couldn't be happier that you've found out._

_Still, now the entire city of Los Angles is going to think that I have feelings for my own attending._

My cell phone vibrated in my pocket, interrupting my thoughts abruptly. I sighed for the second time in two minutes, flipped my cell phone open and said,

"Hello?"

"Hi Queenscove," A very testy sounding Aidan Hill was on the other line.

"How'd you get this number?" I hissed angrily.

Aidan Hill was the last person I wanted to be talking to outside of work.

"Doctor Nond told me to call you and tell you that he needs you to come in early. There has been a salmonella breakout and now everyone and their mother thinks they have it." Aidan explained. "The ER is jammed pack."

"Fantastic," I muttered sarcastically. However, my sarcasm wasn't directed towards the pain of coming into work early. Nope, not even close.

Doctor Nond didn't even want to page me. Instead, he made Aidan do it for him. I knew I had deffinently screwed up big time, if my attending couldn't even make minimal contact with me.

"So," Aidan drawled, "why is your attending making me do his dirty work? Did you two get into another spat?"

"It's none of your business." I growled.

"I'll take that for a yes, Queenscove." Aidan said and I could sense him grinning with glee on the other line. "It's a pity. I thought you two were really making progress." He added with mock sympathy.

"Shove it up your ass." I snarled, before crossly slamming my phone closed.

"What's wrong?"

I jumped in surprise. I hadn't realized that Byron was standing next to me.

"I have to leave." I told my cousin, who frowned. "Apparently, there has been a salmonella breakout and now the hospital is filling up fast. We're not staffed for such a large flow of people."

"That sucks," Byron said.

"You have no idea." I replied with a scowl on my face. "Hopefully, I'll see you soon, Byron."

"Right back atcha' cousin." He said. A dopey grin replaced the uncharacteristic frown on his face and he proceeded to sling his arm around my shoulders to pull me into a hug.

"Ouch," I muttered, when I heard a bone in my arm crack.

His grip loosened.

"Sorry about that Emma." Byron told me. "I guess I don't know my own strength."

I rolled my eyes, before moving on to seek out my mom, Emi, and Emmet to bode farewell to them. They were long goodbyes, especially from my mom, who seemed like she couldn't let me go. She kept moaning repeatedly that it would be another two months, before she saw her baby again. It took Aunt Kel and Emi to finally pry her off of me.

As I made my way out of the parlor, I decided to turn back for one last look at my dad. To my disappointment, we hadn't uttered a single word to each other the entire party and I was hoping that maybe if he spotted me leaving, he'd run after me and ask me for his forgiveness.

_In your dreams, _I thought with a snort.

However, I almost did a double take, when I realized that my dad actually was staring directly at me. My breath caught in my throat, as we made eye contact. The moment was brief, though. His gaze quickly averted and he returned to conversing with Owen Jeslaw. I felt a crushing sensation come down upon me. I really was going to leave the party without any resolution with my dad.

_Damn._

It was only when I was in the safety of my car that I let my eyes water up and then, spill over. I didn't mean to get so emotional, but I really missed my dad. It had been two months since we spoke and I guess it was really starting to get to me. Call me a daddy's girl all you wanted, but I really did miss all of his bear hugs and the big smiles he had reserved just for me.

Through the tears, I somehow pulled into Mercy General's parking lot twenty minutes later. I slammed the car door behind me, wiped my wet eyes on the back of my hand and then made my way towards the hospital's side door.

"Dear God Queenscove have you actually been crying?" An annoyingly familiar voice stopped me in my tracks, just as I was about to push open the door.

I spun around and glared at Aidan Hill, who I didn't notice in the shadows. He blew smoke into the air and I noticed that he was holding a cigarette in his left hand.

"You smoke?" I retorted. "You're a doctor and you smoke. Are you really that dumb?"

I knew it was a weak attempt to change the subject, so it came to no surprise to me, when Aidan continued his attack on me.

"Your pathetic attempts at a change of subject are wasted on me, Queenscove." Aidan told me with an amused facial expression. "Seriously, what's with the tears? Did your boyfriend break up with you or something?" He prodded with a smirk.

"None of your damn business," I snapped. "And, for such a man, you really are a hound for gossip, just like a teenage girl."

"Touché," Aidan said with a roll of his eyes after taking another puff of his cigarette. He was obviously unaffected by my insult. "Someone really has an attitude tonight. Here's another guess on why you're bawling your eyes out- is it that time of the month?"

I scowled.

"Trust me, if it was that time of the month, you would have been unconscious by now from a burst of my hormone induced rage." I growled at him. "Really, is there something you want, Hill? Otherwise, I'm leaving. I can only put up with you for so long without completely losing it."

Aidan sighed and twiddled his cigarette between his index and middle finger.

"Yeah, I just wanted to give you a heads up. Doctor Nond is in a rage of his own." Aidan told me. "I swear Teddy was actually whimpering, when Doctor Nond screamed at him for breaking another foli catheter."

I sighed. That was probably the fifth foli catheter Teddy had managed to break this week. The guy had rotten luck.

"Thanks," I said sincerely, surprised that Aidan was actually helping me, and I was just about to turn to go into the hospital, when the door flew open. A man stormed outside with his white lab coat billowing behind him.

"Your break is over, buddy." Doctor Nond snapped at Aidan, glaring daggers at him.

"Yes, sir," Aidan extinguished his cigarette and headed back inside, leaving just Doctor Nond and me.

"Queenscove, you finally showed up. I was starting to wonder if your pink convertible got a flat tire." My attending said, while staring down at me. His eyes scrutinized me, before he asked in a surprised tone of voice, "Greeny, have you been crying? I knew you'd be scared shitless that you'd have to see me, but you're really crying about it?"

I rolled my eyes.

"I wasn't crying because of you, Doctor Nond." I told my attending. "Though, I am sure you'd be flattered if I was."

Doctor Nond shrugged.

"I would be." He admitted.

_Just apologize!_ My mind shouted at me.

This time, I listened to it.

"Look, Doctor Nond, I am really, really sorry about the whole ex-wife comment that I made the other day." I began. "It was totally uncalled for and I was a bitch for saying it. Especially, because I met your ex-wife today at my dad's party and I've never met someone so soulless in my entire life."

Doctor Nond gaped at me.

"You met Mimi?"

"Yeah, she told me what happened between you two, also." I confessed to my attending. "She's rotten Doctor Nond." I added in an attempt to make him feel better.

There was a pregnant silence between us and I looked expectantly up at my attending, hoping that he would respond soon. A silent Doctor Nond wasn't always a good Doctor Nond. He could be like a volcano, ready to spew the magma, beneath the surface, all over me, at any moment.

"You probably think I'm an idiot for not catching her with RJ earlier." Doctor Nond muttered. His eyes were now focused on the ground. "I couldn't believe how much I trusted her."

"She was your wife," I reminded him softly, "and you loved her, so of course you trusted her."

Doctor Nond sighed and ran a hand through his blonde hair. There was another short silence, before Doctor Nond said the words that I was hoping to hear.

"Grudgingly, I'll admit that you're right, Greeny, and for that, you're forgiven." My attending told me. "Plus, I kind of owe you one after you forgave me last week."

"We get into fights often, don't we?" I said with a small smile.

"Unfortunately, there is always something for us to bash heads over." Doctor Nond admitted, who now was also smiling. "So, are you going to tell me why your eyes are all red and puffy?"

"Allergies?" I suggested innocently. I didn't really want to spill the real reason to my attending. He wasn't exactly the best person to discuss family problems with.

"Greeny," Doctor Nond said in a warning tone. "Just say it or I'll just have to assume it was Stone's fault and kick his ass again."

I smirked, as that mental picture came to my head.

"I'm touched you'd go through all that trouble for me." I teased my attending.

"I'm very possessive of my interns." My attending told me, while shaking his head. "So, spit it out."

I sighed and looked down at the ground. I didn't really want to make eye contact with Doctor Nond. Sometimes, he just intimidated me too much.

"As you already know, I went to my dad's party this afternoon." I explained. "I thought he'd want to reconcile with me, that's at least what my aunt and mom told me. But, he ignored me the entire time. He wouldn't even come over to say hello." I rubbed my temples, as the same despair that had hit me hard after the party, plowed into me again. "All I want is for my dad to love me again. I really miss him."

"I told you your dad was a jerk." Doctor Nond said good naturedly, but when he noticed I wasn't amused, he continued on. "Look Greeny, you know I suck at this stuff, but I promise that I'll try my best to give you halfway decent advice."

I nodded.

_This should be good._ I thought sarcastically.

"First of all, as you are probably well aware, your father has a big ego." I stared pointedly at my attending. "Yes, like me, Greeny. You don't have to remind me that we are unfortunately similar in that way." Doctor Nond admitted grudgingly. "So, you bruised his ego. It's that simple. You're happy here at Mercy General, right?"

"Yeah,"

"Good, so, he'll eventually realize that you're happy at this hospital and that he's being an idiot and a terrible father for treating you this way." I glared at my attending. "I'm pushing it, aren't I?" I nodded firmly. "Okay, fine, but your dad should know that he should only want the best for his kids. It's basic parenting one-oh-one. So, when all of this falls into place inside his head, it will be the moment when he'll beg you to accept him back into your life. Just have patience, Greeny. People with big egos always take longer to grasp the fact that they're the wrong ones."

"Want to give me a time estimate on how long this will take, as a true ego centric person?" I asked my attending. "I need to make arrangements for Thanksgiving next month and I was wondering if I shouldn't count on being invited home." I added jokingly.

"Sorry Greeny," Doctor Nond apologized sincerely. "I got nothing. Everyone is different."

I sighed again, causing my shoulders to sag. This was getting too depressing. I just wanted to be with my family again. Was that so much to ask for?

"Thanks Doctor Nond for everything, I really appreciate you talking to me about this." I told my attending. "I realize how much you despise non-work related conversations. So, it means a lot to me." I added with a smirk.

Doctor Nond patted me on my shoulder.

"Just hang in there, Greeny." He said and turned towards the door. "Now, come on. We have a lot of annoying people inside claiming that they all have salmonella and I'll bet you my next pay check that there is nothing wrong with them whatsoever."

I held back a groan, just thinking about the long night I had ahead of me. My attending snapped his fingers, and barked, "Come," I trailed, once again, behind Doctor Nond, like the little puppy dog that I am.

* * *

So yes. that chapter was 21 pages long. I hope this makes up for my not so frequent updates. I was going to originally end it after the party, but I realized that I couldn't have Doctor Nond and Emma continue to be mad at each other. Also, a tiny tidbit- the lyrics could go both ways. It could apply to Doctor Nond being mean to Emma or Emma being mean to Doctor Nond.

A special thanks to Aly-of-Tortall13. I really appreciate your review! thanks!

To everyone else... thanks for reading!!


	4. Don't Leave

**My Own Way**

Chapter 4

_Don't talk, don't say a thing  
Cause your eyes they tell me more than your words  
Don't go, don't leave me now  
Cause they say the best way out is through_  
Ungodly Hour- The Fray

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Tamora Pierce does and the Fray own their song.

**Warnings**: Alcohol use & sexual content.

* * *

I had just come off a twelve hour shift and I was getting my street clothes out of my locker, when Scott and Melvin approached me. They were already dressed in jeans and t-shirts.

"Hey, we were hoping that all the interns would want to catch a beer together," Scott said to me. "You know to celebrate our…" He turned to Melvin, "How long have we been working here, again?"

"Uh, two and a half months?" Melvin guessed.

"Basically, you guys just made up a random reason to go drinking," I concluded and rolled my eyes.

"Sounds right to me," Scott said with a grin. "So, are you in?"

I nodded.

"Of course," I told them, "just give me five minutes to get dressed and I'll meet you guys outside by the side door."

"That's fine with us," Melvin said, before turning and leaving me alone in the locker room.

I pulled off my scrubs top and replaced it with the pink v-neck t-shirt my sister gave me for my birthday two years ago. It was a nice shirt, except the color was starting to fade from washing it too many times. I really did need to go shopping to update my wardrobe, but money was getting tight for me.

I sighed, just thinking about my financial woes.

My dad had cut me off, as a result of our argument, so I was stuck paying off my med-school loans and the rent of my super nice apartment on a salary that made me five dollars above the minimum wage per hour. I was barely getting by at this point. I knew I probably should find a cheaper apartment soon, before I was put on the streets by my landlord.

I put on jeans, before making my way for the back door. Teddy, Scott, Melvin, and Aidan were already there, waiting for me.

"Took you long enough," Aidan muttered, as I came outside.

I scowled at him. This was the only drawback of going out to drinks with my fellow interns, Hill was here.

"You saw what I did to Stone. You'll be getting the same thing, if you don't stop with the stupid comments," I threatened him, making a mention of the slap that I had dealt out to Ian Stone in the cafeteria.

"Stone's a wuss," Aidan said while rolling his eyes.

I was ready to snap back at my fellow intern, when Teddy piped up,

"Where are we going?"

"I like the California Tavern," Scott suggested. "Does any one have a problem with going there?"

I internally shuddered at the thought of the California Tavern. It was where Ian Stone took me for our first and last date. It wasn't a bad place though. The drinks were pretty good and the atmosphere seemed nice. So, I guess I shouldn't hold the Ian Stone prejudice over it.

"Nope," I replied and everyone else shook their heads.

"Cool, let's get going then," Scott said.

We reached the California Tavern on foot about five minutes later. I spent my entire time glaring at Hill, who simply returned my glares with the same ferocity. Meanwhile, Scott and Melvin chatted excitedly about some basketball game. Teddy tried his best to include himself in their conversation, but it was quickly evident he had no clue what they were talking about, especially when he mentioned something about a 'hole in one'.

We grabbed a table in the back of the bar. It was crowded tonight, just like it had been the first time I was in here. I absentmindedly wondered if Doctor Nond was also here tonight. After all, he had been present when Stone had taken me on our disastorous date.

"Hey, are you even listening Emma?" Melvin asked and waved a hand in front of my face.

"Sorry, what?" I sputtered. I was so caught up in my thoughts with Doctor Nond that I hadn't realized that Melvin had been talking to me.

"I'm going to get us drinks at the bar," he told me. "What would you like?"

I ordered a beer and then turned my full attention back to the conversation at the table. I didn't want my fellow interns thinking that I zoned out a lot. Hill would have a field day on that one.

"I'll tell you something, money is starting to get to be a bitch," Aidan growled after taking a puff from his cigarette that I hadn't realized he had light. _He's smoking_, I thought, _what an idiot_. "We're saving lives and we earn the same exact salary as the guy, who works at Wal-Mart."

I grudgingly nodded in agreement.

"I am hardly scraping up enough money to pay for my apartment," I told them. "I think I need to look for a new place."

"Same here," Teddy moaned. "My landlord says if I don't come up with the next payment in three days, he's evicting me."

"Well, Melvin and I really don't have that problem," Scott said, just as Melvin was returning with our drinks.

"What don't we have a problem with?" Melvin asked as he passed out the drinks.

"Rent," Scott replied, which Melvin nodded in agreement with. "We saved loads of money by moving in together."

Hill snorted at this and Scott, Melvin and I threw him a glare, while Teddy just looked confused about what Aidan was implying.

"Really mature," I told him disparagingly.

"Sorry," Aidan muttered with a scowl.

"Whatever dude," Melvin said, rolling his eyes.

However, that moment was quickly erased from our minds when these words came out of Scott's mouth,

"Why don't you three move in together?" Scott suggested. "You won't get kicked out of your current apartments, you'll save loads of money on rent and food and plus, you guys can carpool to help out with the cost of gas."

My jaw and Hill's completely dropped at the incredulousness of that proposal. There was no way in hell that I was going to live with Aidan Hill. Teddy wasn't that bad. He was a little odd, but Hill. God, he was such a bastard. We hardly lasted a minute in the same room without ripping each other's heads off.

But living with each other?

I scoffed at the idea.

_That would be absolutely insane,_ I thought.

"That would never work," I informed Scott flatly.

"We hate each other," Hill added bluntly.

"I wouldn't mind," Teddy piped in, which earned him face melting glares from both Hill and me.

"It's better then living on the streets," Melvin told us, "or, in an apartment on the rougher side of town."

_That would deffinently suck. _I thought with a mental image of what my next apartment would be. All I could see was me wrapped around in a ton of blankets, but still shivering, while rats scurried around on the floor. This made me wince.

"I'd take the risk," Hill said gruffly.

However, Melvin's words also brought around thoughts on my own beautiful apartment. It was so nice and big. I knew deep down that the last thing I wanted to do was give it up. I figured that it would be a matter of weeks, before I would be forced to find a cheaper and dingier place.

I internally shuddered as the mental image of what could possibly be my next apartment returned to my head.

It would be a big sacrifice to let Aidan and Teddy come live with me. Aidan drove me up a wall and having two men live in my apartment wouldn't exactly give me the best reputation. Was my awesome apartment really worth it?

I decided, despite all of the drawbacks, that it was.

"Fine," I said, visibly cringing at my own words, "but only if you move in at my place. There is no way in hell that I am leaving my apartment."

"Wow, I actually overestimated your stubbornness for oncw," Scott told me with an expression of surprise on his face. "I thought it would take a miracle for you to agree to it."

"I like my apartment a lot" I said simply.

_I am so going to regret this later._

Hill was still glaring from across the table.

"I can't believe you gave into them," he hissed at me.

"Come on dude," Melvin said, before I could snap back at my fellow intern. "I'm sure Emma got a really fancy place from her parent's."

"It's true," I admitted and resisted the urge to gag at my own words that were betraying me.

_Ugh, I can't believe I am actually trying to convince Hill to move in with me. Last week, if I knew I was going to do this, I would have knocked myself into a coma to prevent myself from committing such a horrid crime,_ I thought.

Hill sighed and twiddled his cigarette in between his index and middle finger. I swore that the scowl on his face couldn't get any deeper, but apparently I was wrong.

"I'm going to regret this," he told us, his shoulders drooping in defeat, "but I'll move in with you guys."

_Damn,_ I thought. I was really counting on him flat out refusing. Hill had let me down.

_It wouldn't be the first time._

"Whoa, I think that a miracle has just truly occurred here," Scott announced, smirking.

"Yeah, this place is officially holy ground, as of today," Melvin added, placing his hands reverently down on the table for a brief moment, and then, took a sip of his beer. "I can't believe you really agreed to that man. I thought you would reject the idea for sure."

"Well, to be honest with you, just the thought that I might be able to make Queenscove's life more miserable than it already is was really what the deciding factor was," Hill told the table, making me roll my eyes. "It's a sacrifice for me, but I think it's going to be for a greater good."

I knew that rat bastard had to have ulterior motives.

"Asshole," I muttered viciously at my fellow intern. "We'll see how smug you are about your 'greater good', when I smoother you with a pillow in your sleep."

"Good luck dude," Scott turned to Teddy. "Like seriously, I am pretty sure your new apartment is going to be the equivalent of World War III."

Teddy shuddered before asking me,

"When should we move in?"

The rest of the night we discussed Teddy, Hill and my new living situation. We finally decided that Saturday would be the best day for them to move into my apartment because we all had that morning and afternoon off. Scott and Melvin even offered to help with the whole moving process, which was good because if Hill started to become too unbearable and I had a desire to murder him, they would stop me, before I could put my hands around his stupid little scrawny throat.

* * *

On Saturday night I walked into the hospital completely wiped out. I had spent the entire morning and afternoon helping Hill and Teddy get their things into my apartment. That wasn't even half the hassle though. Hill demanded that I remove some of my 'girl stuff' from sight. I swore we had a fifteen minute shouting match on where I was storing my tampons. Finally, I did win and my tampons remained under the bathroom sink.

"Coffee, Greeny?" Doctor Nond asked me, the moment he spotted me coming towards the nurse's station.

_Shit._

With all the stress and craziness from the day, I had completely forgotten about Doctor Nond's precious caffeinated beverage. He was going to murder me for this.

"Uh, I forgot?" I offered weakly.

"You forgot?" Doctor Nond repeated. His arms were now crossed over his chest. "Hell, Greeny, you never forget these things. What happened to you? Did you not secure your diamond tiara on tight enough, before you left your castle to work amongst us peasants?"

"It was a busy day for me," I admitted to my attending. "Doctor Jeslaw and Hill moved into my apartment and Doctor Hill especially has been driving me up a wall since eight o'clock this morning. It's enough to make anyone forgetful."

Doctor Nond gave me an odd look.

"You let two guys move into your apartment?" he said, scrutinizing me with his hard, brown eyes. "I didn't know you were into threesomes, Greeny."

_Ugh._

"I am not having relations with either of them," I informed my attending curtly. I shuddered at the thought of having any 'relations' with Aidan Hill. Hell would have to freeze over first before that would ever occur. "We're all really short on cash and can't afford the rent in our own separate apartments. So, we decided to save money by moving in together."

"Isn't Doctor Hill that bastard that tags along with Doctor Olau?" Doctor Nond asked with a scowl on his face.

"Yep, that would be the exact one," I replied.

Doctor Nond shook his head.

"I've heard plenty about him, most of it not good," he said. The scowl on his face had now deepened. "You do realize that you just let the devil move in with you, right?"

"Unfortunately, I'm well aware," I told my attending sourly.

"Just watch your back, Greeny," Doctor Nond advised me. "You never know with bastards like that."

I didn't need to be told twice about how to deal with Aidan Hill, but I still said to my attending, "Well noted," and then tapped my head for extra emphasis.

"Good, now that we got that over with, let's start rounds," Doctor Nond said and snapped his fingers. "Come, Greeny,"

I trailed my attending down the hallway.

"Who's our first lucky patient of the day?" I asked eagerly.

Doctor Nond pulled out a chart and scanned through it.

"Mister Brett Hay, single father of four," he told me. "You get to tell the poor guy that he has terminal renal cancer."

I stopped dead in my tracks in total shock and knew that I was visibly deflating.

"Are you kidding me?" I blurted out. I felt like I had just got punched in the face.

My attending turned around to look me straight in the eye.

"Am I kidding about what, Greeny?"

"That's absolutely awful, what's going to happen to his poor kids?" I asked, feeling a wave of pity crash over me.

"Hopefully the man will get his affairs in order before he kicks the bucket. Now come on princess. I don't have all day," Doctor Nond snapped at me.

"You're being a little insensitive, don't you think?" I questioned my attending with an appalled expression on my face. I still couldn't wrap my mind around the concept of those four little children being left parentless and alone.

Doctor Nond sighed.

"Usually, we save our little lessons for the end of the day, Greeny. I hope you realize that you're throwing me out of my groove," my attending said and ran a hand through his blonde hair. I knew that he was gearing up for a big speech. "Okay, listen up because this one is important. You'll see some of the worst things imaginable in this hospital Greeny, but you can't let it get to you. You just can't or you'll be ruined, before you even get a chance to get started. I'll tell you right now princess you'll see patient's with sadder stories than this poor guy, but you have to try your best to distance yourself from them. It's just too much emotional baggage to carry around if you get involved. So, my simple solution is to only treat them in the best way that you can and make them comfortable. If you go any further, they'll break you. Do you understand?"

I nodded firmly at my attending. I knew that I should still be really down about the patient and I was, but I couldn't help but feel the same satisfied feeling that always came with Doctor Nond bestowing some of his wisdom upon me. I always loved it when he put in a genuine effort into me becoming a better doctor. It made me feel special and important. The total opposite of how I felt during my first disastorous encounter with my attending.

"Yes, sir," I said.

"Good, now can you handle telling this man he's going to die, Greeny?" he asked me with that same penetrating gaze that always kept me on edge when I was around him. "It might be your first goner, but it certainly won't be your last."

"Yes, sir," I repeated.

"Good, then let's continue on," Doctor Nond said and returned to walking to our patient's room in his usual brisk pace.

The poor guy was resting peacefully in his bed when we came in. His window sill was covered in hand made cards, probably all by his kids that really tugged at my heart strings. He looked so young too, definitely too young to die. He couldn't be a day over thirty five.

"Hi Mister Hay," I greeted the doomed man, who smiled at Doctor Nond and I. This hopeful smile almost broke me and I was forced to dig my nails into my palm to keep my emotions in check. "We received your test results from the lab and I'm afraid they aren't good. You have renal cancer that unfortunately is in the late stages, which means it's terminal. I'm really sorry."

Mr. Hay's face instantly drooped.

"T-terminal?" he stuttered, his eyes wide in what could only be fear, and I nodded mierably.

"Yes, Mister Hay," I told him in my best effort to keep calm. I needed to stay strong for my patient. "As I said before, I am really sorry and I assure you that this hospital will do anything to make you comfortable."

"God," Mr. Hay buried his head in his hands and muffled whimpers told me that he was crying. "My kids…"

I knew what I had to do. I needed to offer some kind of comfort or I'd appear to be a heartless bitch, which I wasn't. However, it was my first time ever having to console a person who has just found out they were going to die and with Doctor Nond watching me, I knew the pressure was on.

"I swear to you Mister Hay that we'll do anything for you and your kids.," I told the man and placed my hand comfortingly on his shoulder. He flinched at first from my touch, but he quickly returned to crying. "Your kids will be in good hands."

"Thank you doctor, but how much time do I have left?" Mr. Hay asked after wiping his eyes with the back of his hands. He looked so broken that I couldn't meet his eyes, when I read off from his chart in a dismal tone

"Two weeks,"

"Christ," the patient whispered. He then looked up at both of us and I could see the tear stains on his face. "Do you mind if I have some time alone, doctors?"

We both nodded at Mr. Hay.

"Of course," I told him and then, followed Doctor Nond out of the room. "That sucked," I announced to my attending, once we were in the hallway and had closed the patient's door.

Doctor Nond's jaw line had hardened.

"Yep, it sure did, but that's the kind of career you chose Greeny," he said, ran his hands through his hair and then leant against the wall. I could tell that Mr. Hay's case had saken my attending too. "We doctors give out news like that more often than I or anyone likes. You just gotta get by anyway you can."

Before I could reply, our beepers went off in unison.

"We have respiratory failure in room 214. Let's go Greeny," Doctor Nond barked, before I could even reach for my beeper.

_Reflexes like a ninja_, I thought before we both took off in a run towards the patient's room. I barely could keep up with my attending, as he went barreling down the hallway at top speed. When I finally did fling myself into the room, Doctor Nond and a nurse were already inside.

A boy, who could only be about twelve, lay in the bed and he was turning blue at an alarming rate. Machines were buzzing loudly, making my attending's voice scarcely audible,

"Greeny, obstructed airway. Tracheotomy stat,"

I nodded firmly at Doctor Nond, before springing into action. Immediately, I had a scalpel thrust into my hand by the nurse and made a half of an inch incision in the boy's throat. After that, I inserted the tracheostomy tube, inflated the cuff and finally secured it all with tape around neck. From there, I started pumping the blue bag to provide airflow into the boy's lungs.

After forty five seconds, the machines stopped beeping as loudly and the tension in the room had evaporated.

"CO2 and O2 levels have returned to normal, doctors," the nurse reported after inspecting one of the machines.

"Good, you can stabilize him from here and then could you get his regular physician in here?" Doctor Nond asked the nurse. "He needs to check for any possible brain damage."

"Yes sir," she replied.

"Okay, come Greeny," he snapped his fingers and I followed him out of the room. "Well, at least that went better than your first code."

I cringed as thoughts of Mrs. Regan creeped up into my head.

"Yeah, thank goodness," I replied as I tried to shake off the bad memories. "What was that kid in here for anyway?"

"He had drowned at the beach earlier this morning. Lifeguards were able to resuscitate him and they brought him here," Doctor Nond told me and I nodded in response. We walked down the hallway in silence for a little bit as my attending flipped through his next chart. "You did well with the tracheotomy, by the way," he added, out of the blue, and looked up at me for my reaction.

My attending didn't give out compliments too often, so my only reaction was to wear an expression of astonishment.

"Really?" I couldn't help, but ask.

Doctor Nond rolled his eyes.

"Yes princess, don't get too fluttered. It's just a tracheotomy, not rocket science."

I grinned into my hand, but didn't say anymore. It would be no good for me to annoy my attending by acting too gleeful from his praise.

From there, we continued rounds. We visited one patient with Hepatitis B, who had vomited up blood this afternoon, a man with a broken leg from a football game, a construction worker, who had managed to put two nails through his hand, an old woman with liver failure, a college student with alcohol poisoning, and a little girl, who had managed to burn herself on her stove.

We were on our way to see a patient, who had got into a knife fight, when a sickly familiar voice caused Doctor Nond and me to spin around in the hallway.

"Hey roomy,"

Aidan Hill was sauntering towards us with a cocky grin on his face.

_This isn't going to be good._

"Hill," I growled back in acknowledgement.

"Hello Doctor Nond," he greeted a little too pleasantly to my attending.

"Don't you have work to do?" my attending asked with a scowl on his face. He was clearly uninterested in anything that Hill had to say.

"Both of you are very touchy today," Hill told us. "Hopefully, my roomy will be the same way in bed tonight, right Emma?" He added with a wink.

I nearly gagged in disgust and felt my face turn bright red, partially in embarrassment, but mostly in pure anger. What the hell was that little perv playing at? How dare he say such a thing in front of my attending?

"I am seriously going to strangle you, Hill," I snarled in response and I was being dead serious. At this point, I could literally feel the rage pulsing through my veins.

"She likes it rough," Hill said to my attending with the same cocky grin on his face, totally unfazed. "I always admired a girl with a little feistiness. Don't you, Doctor Nond?"

"H-Hill, you are so dea-" I began, spluttering in fury. I knew my face had to be an alarming shade of puce by now.

Luckily, Doctor Nond interrupted me before I did anything to land myself in jail.

"If you don't leave my sight in the next five seconds Doctor Hill, I am going to be forced to shove my foot so far up your ass that you won't be able to sit down for the next three months. You got that?"

Hill just rolled his eyes.

"You got it Doc'," he told my attending and I had to hold back a gasp. No one talked to Doctor Nond that way and got to see the light of the next day.

"Watch it Doctor Hill," Doctor Nond growled in warning and glared daggers at the younger man. I could tell by the way my attending was now clenching his fists that he was holding back.

"I shall," I couldn't believe that Hill was completely unaffected by Doctor Nond's threats. "See you later, Emma," he added with a wink.

Doctor Nond and I watched my fellow intern stroll leisurely down the hallway and we both knew that we were trying very hard to control ourselves. I had a feeling that my attending wanted to bash in Hill's skull as much as I did.

Finally, when Hill was out of sight, Doctor Nond spoke,

"Wow Greeny, you really know how to pic-" my attending began to say the same words he had spoken to me on my first day at Mercy General but then he stopped himself, shook his head and instead said, "You know what, never mind. It's not my place. Let's go see Mr. Butler."

I stared apprehensively up at my attending, but he was already sweeping down the hallway. I cursed Hill under my breath and took off after Doctor Nond. The rest of the night and the next morning, because we were both working until 9 A.M., seemed awkward between Doctor Nond and me. He didn't make fun of me as much, but at the same time we hardly spoke a word to each other, besides about our patients.

Luckily, when I got back to my apartment, it was empty. Teddy's shift started at nine and Hill was working a double, which meant he wasn't off till nine tonight.

I ate breakfast and took a shower, before climbing into bed. I needed to catch up on a lot of sleep that I had lost the day before. I slept for about ten hours and it was 8:30 at night when I finally woke up.

_God, I need a drink, _I thought, as memories of this morning came rushing back into my head. All of the stress created mainly by Hill was starting to eat at me. I needed something to take the edge off.

I decided that I should head out to the California Tavern. So, I pulled on a halfway decent outfit and put on a little makeup, before heading out to my car. It was a short drive to my new favorite bar. I parked my Camry outside and then headed inside.

I took a seat at the bar and ordered two shots of gin. I downed them instantly and then had a beer brought to me.

Catcalls suddenly erupted in the bar and they forced me to turn in my seat to see what was going on. I felt my eyes widen at the sight.

Doctor Nond, my attending who could hardly bear any human interaction, was literally sucking face with a pretty Spanish girl with long flowing black hair. Besides this, she was straddling him. Her two thin legs were locked around his back like a pretzel.

I found that I couldn't tear my eyes away from both of them. It was like I was being held there from an unknown force. The only thing that I was concentrating on was them and the blood pounding in my ears.

"Jealous?"

For the second time today Aidan Hill had managed to sneak up behind me. He was still in his scrubs, as he took a seat next to me at the bar. He looked exhausted, which was understandable, he had just come off a twenty four hour shift. However, Hill still managed nonetheless to wear that cocky grin of his.

"W-What?" I spluttered back at him, totally taken off guard by his comment.

"You like Doctor Nond," Hill stated simply. "I guessed a few weeks back that you had feelings for him."

"Uh, no," I told him flatly and looked at him like I thought he was crazy. However, the gears in my head were turning. This was the second person to accuse me of having a thing for Doctor Nond. The first was his viper of an ex-wife. Could it be possible that I had a crush on my attending?

"I mean c'mon Queenscove," Hill told me after taking a sip of his beer that he had just ordered. "You follow him around like a lost puppy dog and hang on his every word. You obsessively worry about offending him and brighten up like a light bulb every single time he gives you the teeniest amount of praise." I was about to shake my head in denial that I wasn't quite sure was genuine at this point, but Hill continued on, "I'll admit, despite my great observation skills, that I couldn't really confirm your little crush on the big, bad Doctor Nond until I confronted you two in the hallway today."

My eyes had widened at that last statement.

"You were being extra rude to me and absolutely revolting just to find out if I had feelings for my attending?"

Hill smirked.

"Yep,"

"You know how awkward you made things between us, you little bastard?" I growled at my fellow intern. "He would hardly speak a word to me after you had to come over and act like a sleaze."

"Is that why you're drinking so heavily tonight?" Hill asked and cocked his head towards the two shot glasses and the beer. "Are you upset that your little boyfriend gave you the silent treatment?"

"Screw you," I muttered at him.

"You know you want to," Hill shot back and I rolled my eyes at his pathetic pick up line, before ordering another three shots of gin.

It didn't take me long to down them.

"Slow down Queenscove," Hill told me. He was on his second beer already. "I don't want to be the one holding back your hair, as you vomit your sorrows into the toilet."

I cursed at him, before ordering two more shots. I knew I was drunk at this point by the way the room was beginning to blur. I didn't care though. I needed to get the image of my attending and the Spanish woman out of my head.

"So, do you admit that you have a thing for Doctor Nond?" my fellow intern asked me.

"Yes," I slurred in an exasperated tone and ordered another shot.

"Ah, I love drunken confessions," Hill said in a gleeful tone.

"Aren't you drunk?" I asked him, while squinting. I was attempting to do my best at not seeing three Doctor Hills. One Doctor Hill was enough for me.

"Nah, I've only had three and plus I'm not a light weight like you," he said, which made me scowl a him, and then he swiveled around in his chair to face the back of the bar. "Oh, that's a shame, Queenscove. They're still at it. Those two seriously should consider getting a room."

"Eh, what?" I asked and made my own effort at spinning around in my seat. However, this ended in Hill having to steady me in my seat, just as I was about to fall off and crack my skull on the bar floor.

"I should get you back to the apartment Queenscove. You're a mess," Hill told me and gave two twenties to the bartender before I could protest.

He grabbed my hand and slowly guided me out of my seat. Hill tried to keep my eyes straight ahead at the blurred exit of the California Tavern, but I couldn't help and turn to see what had become of my attending.

Hill was right. They were still at it, entwined like they were glued together. I wondered how long it would be until those two left and had…

I shivered, just thinking about Doctor Nond throwing that Spanish woman on his bed and having sex with her. Luckily, I couldn't dwell on that for long because Hill was now literally dragging me out of the bar.

"So, no driving for me, right?" I asked, trying to keep a perky attitude. I didn't want Hill to know how upset I was about Doctor Nond and his Spanish beauty. He would just eat me alive at that one.

"God, Queenscove, you're a doctor. You know that you're in no fit state to drive," Hill said and rolled his eyes at me.

"Doctor?" I scoffed at him. "I am just a lowly intern. The dirt beneath their toes or is it feet? I am hardly a doctor in anyone's eyes."

"Ah, I think I like you better when you're drunk," Hill told me with a smirk and a chuckle. "You're not so uptight with some alcohol in your system. It makes you tolerable."

"Oh good, I like being tolerable," I slurred.

My fellow intern rolled his eyes again at me.

"My car is around the corner. Let's get going," Hill said and dragged my drunken self towards his beat up Volkswagen Rabbit. He shoved me in the front seat and buckled my seatbelt for me, before climbing into the driver's seat.

A few minutes of silence passed between us as we drove through the dark L.A. streets. I couldn't get thoughts of Doctor Nond out of my head and that stupid, black haired, slut…

I scowled.

"You okay Queenscove?" Hill finally asked in a surprisingly gentle tone that was rare for him. "You're awfully quiet now. Sobering up?"

"Nope, just thinking," I replied, while staring out the window.

"About Doctor Nond?" he inquired.

"Yeah," I admitted. "Maybe he's better off with that girl in the bar. I would just remind him of his ex-wife," Hill glanced over at me with an expression of confusion, so I decided to explain. "Well, you see his ex-wife, Miranda or Mimi or whatever that witch's name is, she cheated on him with the man that she is now married to. Plus, she works for my dad in his dermatology department with her current husband. That's why Doctor Nond hates my dad so much. She works for him. I must remind Doctor Nond of his ex-wife because of the Queenscove Medical Center connection. He would never want anything to do with me. It would just bring around painful thoughts of her."

Hill pursed his lips in concentration and I believe that he was genuinely trying to think of a good thing to say to me for once.

"Eh, you never know Queenscove. Nond might feel the same way about you," my fellow intern told me. "Despite all of that shit that connects you to Nond's ex, you're a decently attractive woman, you're intelligent- God knows more than any of the bimbos I meet at that stupid bar- and you're pretty loyal. That should mean a lot to Doctor Nond, especially the last one, considering the circumstances of his first divorce. If what I heard is correct, you took a hit for that man, right?"

I felt my eyebrows rise towards my hairline. I thought that was a secret between Ian Stone and me.

"How'd you know about that?"

"Grapevine," he explained and parked his car in the garage of our (Weird getting used to that) apartment complex.

Before I could ask anymore questions, Hill helped me out of the car and into the elevator. We traveled up five floors and somehow ended up back in my-our apartment.

"Can you take care of yourself from here?" Hill asked once we were inside.

"Yeah, I think so," I said and he was about to leave for his room, when I suddenly had an odd urge to grab his hand to prevent him from leaving. "Hill?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for everything tonight and I mean it," I told him sincerely. "As much as I despise you and think you're one of the most annoying people on the planet, you were actually nice to me when I needed it. So, thank you,"

"You're still holding my hand, Queenscove," Hill noted, looking down at the rare sight. His chin moved upward and he stared at me, scrutinizing me with his hardened blue eyes. "I usually don't like to take advantage of my drunken co-workers, but you don't want to be alone tonight, do you?" Before I could respond and tell him that he was full of shit for saying that he didn't take advantage of drunk women, he shook his head, "Eh, you know what? Screw it if you do. I'm still going for it."

In a blink of an eye, our lips smashed together. I nearly gasped in surprise, but soon found my hands entangled in his red hair while his hands were underneath my shirt. With our mouths still connected, he pushed me against the wall roughly. I didn't care though, and I immediately straddled him, mimicking the Spanish woman in the bar.

Hill was now completely supporting my weight as he blindly carried me towards, what I thought, was his bedroom. He managed to hit my head on the door frame, but we both ignored it, too caught up in our own passion.

Soon, we were on his bed. He had my shirt off now and I was fiddling with his belt buckle. I knew that we were nearing the point of no return, but I found myself not caring. It felt good to have human comfort for once, even if it was Aidan Hill.

* * *

Thank you very very much Kailun and whisperingwinds11. I appreciate any and all feedback, even if it's negative. I swear. Thanks for reading!!


	5. Crush

**My Own Way**

Chapter 5

You know, I'm the one that you can talk to  
And sometimes you tell me thing that I don't want to know  
I just want to hold you  
And you say exactly how you feel about her  
And I wonder, could you ever think of me that way

Ooh, I got a crush on you  
I hope you feel the way that I do  
I get a rush  
When I'm with you  
Ooh, I've got a crush on you  
A crush on you

You know everything that I'm afraid of

You do everything I wish I did  
Everybody wants you, everybody loves you

You say everything that no one says  
But I feel everything that you're afraid to feel  
I will always want you, I will always love you  
I've got a crush...

Crush- Mandy Moore

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. Tamora Pierce and Mandy Moore do, though.

Warnings: Implied nudity

* * *

I woke up with an unfamiliar arm snaked around my waist. It took me a few seconds to skillfully maneuver out of the embrace and face the stranger, who I was currently sharing a bed with.

_Well, this is unexpected._

The person I despised the most was currently lying next to me, wide awake, and wearing his signature smirk. He was shirtless, but I knew that his chest wasn't the only portion of his body that was uncovered.

"I thought you would never wake up, Queenscove," Aidan Hill drawled next to me. "I was seriously considering getting my old bull horn out of the closet and pointing it directly at your ears, but then I thought about how much more annoying you'd be when you were deaf and concluded that it wouldn't be worth it."

I moaned and ran a hand through my brown curls, trying my best to collect myself. It was hard though, considering that my drowsy brain was working on overdrive trying to comprehend what my surroundings around me meant.

Despite my fatigue, it wasn't so hard to put two and two together, though. I was in Aidan Hill's room and in his bed, plus we were both naked. I mean, come on. It isn't rocket science.

"Holy crap, I slept with you!" I shouted. I was now obviously very wide awake after making my simple deduction. Hill only nodded in response, completely unfazed. "I must have been completely wasted!"

"You were," Hill admitted with a shrug.

I felt anger and disgust wash over me. I had sex with a man that I couldn't stand. What the hell was wrong with me? I know I was intoxicated, but my brain couldn't be that impaired to forget that Aidan Hill was the last person I wanted to touch, let alone sleep with, drunk or sober. What really made my hands curl up into fists, though, was Hill's blasé reaction to my shouting. How dare he brush this off like it wasn't important?

"You took advantage of me!" I accused him angrily and the pressure that was beginning to build in the front of my skull informed me that a headache was coming.

"I like my women vulnerable and drunk," Hill replied in a typical Hill response. He was indifferent, of course, and sounded like a complete ass. There was nothing new with that.

The only thing that I really cared about in Hill's response was his use of the word 'vulnerable'. My eyes snapped up at that and met his own squarely.

"What do you mean by 'vulnerable'?" I questioned him with a withering gaze that would normally make a person cringe. However, Hill didn't even flinch.

"You spent the entire night blubbering on and on and on and on about your attending, Doctor Nond," Hill informed me with a roll of his eyes. "Oh, he'll never like me. He hates my family. What will I do? Woe is me. Blah, blah, blah," he mimicked me in a high pitched voice.

"Ugh," I buried my face into the pillow, "I can't believe I admitted my feelings to you of all people," I said with a muffled voice.

"And don't forget, you had sex with me too," Hill added in a fake cheery voice and with a grin that made me want to rip his face off.

"What the hell was I thinking?" I said and began massaging my temples. The hangover was starting to hit me, full force.

"You weren't," Hill told me. "You were piss drunk, remember?"

"Yes, thank you for the reminder," I retorted sourly. "My blazing headache tells me all that I need to know about that."

We sat in silence for a moment. I personally was contemplating how badly it would hurt if I threw myself out of my fifth floor window. Meanwhile, Hill was sitting Indian style, luckily with the blanket still covering his lower extremities. The corners of his mouth were turned up in its usual smirk. Who knows what he was thinking about? Knowing Hill, he was probably formulating another plot to get me drunk again because no woman in her right mind would sleep with him sober and willingly.

"So, when can this happen again?" he asked, proving my theory that he was already planning to sleep with me again, and motioned to the clothing that was strewn across his floor.

"You actually enjoyed sleeping with me?" I questioned him with a tone of surprise. Normally, if you hate a person, you don't enjoy sex with them.

Normally, if you hate a person, you don't have sex with them, period. My mind added in.

_Touché._

"Nope, I just enjoy having sex," Hill shot back.

"Figures," I muttered, while resisting the urge to roll my eyes. "But, to address your first question, I shall never, ever, ever, ever, again have sex with you."

"Oh, c'mon," Hill argued. He seemed alarmed by the fact that there was a possibility he'd have to wait another five years to touch another woman. "Didn't you like it at least a little?"

"Hmm… let me think about that. No," I answered flatly.

"That's cold," Hill told me. "But trust me, you'll crawling back to me once Doctor Nond manages to hurt you again, and when you do, I'll be more than happy to rub it in your face."

"I can't wait," I said sarcastically, but then turned serious. "Just promise me Hill, not a word to Doctor Nond about this."

I winced just thinking about the silent treatment that I received from my attending the previous day and that was before Hill and I had sex. Who knows how distant Doctor Nond would start act towards me, if Hill made our little one night stand hospital gossip. I would be lucky if my attending uttered a single word to me for a month.

"Make Queenscove miserable or potential sex," Hill muttered and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "What to chose? What to chose?"

"Making me miserable pleasures you more than sleeping with me?" I growled angrily. "Seriously Hill, as a doctor I recommend that you go see a shrink, if that's the case. And plus, I already told you that I was never sleeping with you again. There is no 'potential sex'."

"Relax Queenscove. Don't get your panties in a bunch," Hill said, while rolling his eyes. "I'll keep this between us, but on one condition."

I didn't like the mischievous glint in his eyes.

"On what condition?" I snapped, though I had a feeling it had something to do with the 'potential sex'."

"A quickie before breakfast," Hill told me.

Wow, I really know Hill too well. It's a little frightening.

"You want me to sleep with you sober?" I asked disgustedly. "It was bad enough when I was drunk."

"I know Doctor Nond's pager number," he threatened and picked up the little black box on his night stand.

_Ugh, Hill has check and mate._

"Fuck you," I growled at him angrily.

"That's what I like to hear."

* * *

I entered the hospital at a run with my attending's coffee in my hand. I was going to be late. I somehow managed, between holding the coffee and looking at where I was going, to check my watch to see how much time I had left, before Doctor Nond would annihilate me or lock me in another supply closet. I don't know which one would be worse.

Twenty seconds.

I could now spot our usual meeting spot, the nurse's station, in the distance. Doctor Nond was already there and he looked peeved.

Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Run faster!

Ten seconds.

I ignored the stares that I was receiving, since I was literally sprinting down the hospital hallways now. Not the safest thing to do, of course, but just thinking about Doctor Nond's reaction if I was late made it all worth it.

_This is all_ _stupid Hill's fault and his insistence on the quickie, before breakfast. That was hardly a quickie!_

I was closer now and realized that I was going to make it. Five seconds to go and I was only ten feet away!

"Hey Doctor No-" I called out in greeting and started to slow down to a jog.

However, my greeting was cut very short, when I was blindsided by the mortician and the gurney that he was pushing with a corpse on top of it. The mortician had come from around the corner and I totally missed him in my peripheral.

_Damn._

In a five second span, I flipped over the gurney, spilled hot coffee all over myself while I was airborne, landed flat on my back, and smacked my skull against the linoleum floor. Unfortunately, when a person manages to do all of this, unconsciousness may occur and that's exactly what happened to me.

The world was dark for me for what seemed like ages. When I finally came to, I didn't open my eyes right away. Everything just hurt too much and I was also pretty squeamish at the thought of what Doctor Nond was going to say to me. He was probably extremely pissed.

_Ugh, just kill me now._ I thought and I believed that I'd rather die than deal with my attending.

"Christ, I can't believe I hit another stupid intern," I heard a grouchy voice growl in the background somewhere. I could only assume that it was the mortician. "You would think they'd learn to look where they're going by now."

"This is the fifth time I've heard you repeat the same stupid thing, Sarge. News flash: no one cares. Just go on about your damn business," I heard my attending snap at the mortician. "There is no reason why you should be sticking around any longer, unless you want to see if she's okay."

"Trust me, I don't really have any overwhelming desire to stick around and see if the idiotic intern is okay. I have better things to do," Sarge grumbled and I heard the sound of the cart being wheeled away.

I took this as my cue to open my eyes and let out a loud moan. The first person I saw was Doctor Nond, who was kneeled down on the ground next to me. A nurse was also there, hovering over me, probably waiting for any orders from my attending.

"Shit Greeny, do you realize how moronic you really are?"

Of course, those had to be the first words addressed to me by Doctor Nond after losing consciousness.

_Freakin' fantastic_.

"Um doctor, shouldn't you be asking her something?" the nurse interrupted timidly. She was referring to the three protocol questions a doctor was supposed to ask a concussion patient: What is your name? Where are you? What day is it?

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm getting to that lady," Doctor Nond growled. He never liked it when somebody else was telling him how to do his job. I knew this from firsthand experience. "Why don't you just go back to your business? I can handle little Miss So Oblivious- to- the- Rest- of- the- World- that- I- Get- Hit- by- a- Damn- Gurney by myself."

"Uh, yes doctor," she muttered and threw me a sympathetic look, before scurrying away in probably what was fear. I didn't blame her, though. I would be running away right now from Doctor Nond too, if I wasn't so dizzy and didn't want to puke my own brains out.

"So, why don't you start out by telling me your name?" he asked me.

"Greeny," I replied jokingly, even though I knew it was an awful time to be doing so. Stupid, concussed brain, Doctor Nond is going to kill you for this.

"Are you serious?" my attending asked, for the first time, in a concerned tone.

"Just kidding," I sang with a goofy grin and my hand flew to my mouth . Why was my own brain betraying me?

_Stop it!_

"Just answer the damn question," Doctor Nond snapped and I could see his face was turning a dangerous red.

"Emma Queenscove," I quickly blurted out, before my attending could strangle me. Luckily, Doctor Nond's face turned a shade lighter.

"Where are you?" he asked next.

"Mercy General Hospital,"

"What day is it?"

"November 15th,"

Doctor Nond sighed and looked somewhat relieved.

"Congratulations, you passed the test Greeny," my attending said sarcastically. "Now, can you sit up?"

I moaned again at the thought of sitting up. I was so caught up in regaining consciousness that I had temporarily blocked out all of my pain and unfortunately, it was now all rushing back to me, full force.

First and foremost, my head was killing me. There was the constant throbbing, plus the tenderness at the back of my skull. Pain was also evident in my hands and forearms. I probably had some kind of second degree burns from the spilt coffee and to top it all off, my back was extremely sore from my acrobatic-like landing.

"Yeah, I guess so," I finally replied and started to make a pitiful attempt to pull myself up.

Doctor Nond rolled his eyes and gingerly put his hands on my back to steady me. I was glad that he wasn't checking my pulse right now or he would have noticed how much it was accelerating at the moment just from his touch.

_Even in my head that sounds so cheesy, but unfortunately it's true. Damn. Stupid heart! Control yourself._

With one hand still on my back, he whipped out his penlight and shined it in my eyes. I tried my best to focus on the light, but I was failing miserably.

"Just as I thought Greeny," Doctor Nond said resignedly, "you've managed to give yourself a grade two concussion and I am absolutely positive that you burned yourself also." He frowned. "You haven't even started your shift and you're already taken out of action."

I moaned again, not on account of physical pain this time, but because of the feelings of shame and guilt that were beginning to roll over me. My concussed brain was starting to comprehend that I not only had made a complete idiot of myself in front of the entire hospital, but also, I was now putting my attending behind on his work because he was stuck taking care of me. That was the worst part of the entire situation, knowing that people weren't being helped by the best doctor in the hospital on account of my own idiocy.

"I'm really sorry," my voice was barely audible. "I can get one of the nurses to clean me up, so you can get back to work."

Doctor Nond sighed.

"Don't be a bigger idiot than you already are Greeny," my attending told me with a slightly more subdued tone of voice.

"But what about your patient load?" I protested and barely held back my own surprise. Doctor Nond would rather take care of me than his own patients? Even hearing it in my own concussed head, it sounded ludicrous.

"You are my patient load now," Doctor Nond replied simply and then, before I could reply, he snapped his fingers. "Hey Kennan," a really tall and bulky red haired doctor stopped dead in his tracks. He looked surprised, but that was probably because Doctor Nond wasn't actually yelling at him, "Take my charts. Dump some on Cooper too. She deserves it."

"Uh, sure," the man dubbed 'Kennan' answered with a curious gaze in my direction. "Is she alright?"

"Just peachy," my attending replied sarcastically. He got up off the floor and shoved all of his charts with a little more extra force than needed into the red head's chest. "Now scram,"

Kennan nodded and I knew that the red haired doctor wasn't too frightened of my attending, or he would have scurried off like a frightened rabbit by now. Instead, he continued down the hallways in a long, steady gait.

"He seems nice," I commented off handedly, still sitting on the floor.

"Kennan's a second year resident, he's a little thick, but he at least has a good heart," my attending told me and I was surprised by the compliment. Compliments from Doctor Nond were very rare. "He has an odd habit of giving weird pet names to women he likes, though. It hasn't made him particularly popular amongst the female staff at Mercy General."

Doctor Nond was kneeling down next to me again.

"Anyway, do you think you can get up, Greeny? We could go to an examination room, so I can treat those burns."

"Yes, I think I can," I told my attending.

He held out his hand and I grasped it. With one sharp tug he had me on my feet. Dizziness and nausea hit me immediately in waves and I felt my knees begin to buckle.

Doctor Nond cursed and grabbed me from under my shoulders to keep me from falling. I could feel the blood rushing to my face and I prayed that nobody was noticing.

_Ugh, this is what I get for finally realizing my own feelings towards Doctor Nond. I'm starting to act like a blushing little school girl around him, perfect._ I thought sarcastically.

"Greeny, I swear to God. I actually can feel my blood pressure rising," Doctor Nond growled at me with exasperation clearly present in his tone of voice. "Next time be a good little patient and answer the question truthfully."

"Sorry Doctor Nond," I muttered and straightened myself up. Luckily, my stomach was starting to settle a little and not everything was so shaky anymore.

My attending sighed and ran his hand through his blonde hair.

"Let's just get you patched up," he told me.

Doctor Nond grasped my shoulder and began steering me through the hallways of Mercy General. I wanted to argue that I felt better and that I was perfectly capable of walking myself to the examination rooms, but I knew if I angered Doctor Nond anymore, he'd burst an artery.

Luckily, there was an examination room open. Doctor Nond led me inside, before closing the door behind us.

"Sit down on the table princess and I'll see what damage you've inflicted upon your dainty self," my attending ordered.

I did what he said and watched him pull out the penlight again from his lab coat's pocket.

"I thought the whole knocking myself unconscious thing already confirmed that I had a concussion?" I asked him and felt irritability rise up in me at the thought of having that pesky light shone in my eyes again. "What are you looking for now?"

"I know you have a concussion, Greeny. I just want another look," my attending told me in a surprisingly calm voice, before making some notes on a chart. "Plus, I think I want to run a CT scan to make sure that you don't have any internal bleeding."

"I don't need a CT!" I protested, as he pointed the small light into my eyes._ Damn, that's really bright_. "I didn't hit my head that hard!"

I knew that I was acting like a small child, but for some reason I couldn't help feeling moody. I wondered absentmindedly if it had something to do with the concussion.

_I probably should read up on that later._ I thought with an internal sigh. I had a plethora of medical books scattered around my apartment from all the extra studying that I did when I wasn't working. I really needed to buy a bookshelf and organize them, especially now that I had two extra people living with me.

"You have a grade two concussion and you hit the back of your head, Greeny. I want a CT," My attending said in a tone of finality.

I groaned, even though I knew Doctor Nond would glare at me for it. He did, but I didn't care for once. I was in no mood to be shoved in that machine. What I was really in the mood for, though, was a nap. My eyelids were getting heavier by the minute and fatigue was washing over me.

"Now, let's see those coffee burns, princess. I don't want them scarring your precious porcelain skin," my attending said sarcastically, after making more notes on the chart.

I held my arms out and let Doctor Nond inspect them. They were definitely second degree from the blisters that were already forming. I hissed in pain as he applied the anti-bacterial ointment.

"Oh come on princess, suck it up. I am sure the pain you're in right now is equivalent to that of a broken nail," my attending told me, while rolling his eyes. He took out non-stick gauze from a draw and began wrapping up my arms. "Does that feel any better?" he asked me, once he was done.

"Yeah, thanks," I muttered and covered up a yawn. Thankfully, the random burst of irritability I was having was starting to diminish. I couldn't really afford to piss off Doctor Nond anymore than I already have.

"Greeny," he began in a stern tone, "you know you can't sleep with a head injury. You've got to stay with me."

"I'm so tired, though," I muttered and yawned again.

Doctor Nond sighed and rubbed his temples.

"I'll go fetch a wheelchair, so I can roll you down to get that CT scan," he told me. "Can you handle not injuring yourself in any way, while I'm gone for the next two minutes?"

"I don't need a wheelchair." I protested, feeling a new wave of irritability come upon me, and I completely ignored his last comment. I was starting to turn red just thinking how embarrassing it would be to get rolled around the hospital by Doctor Nond. "I can walk perfectly fine."

"Damn it Greeny, stop being so stubborn. First you bitch about the CT and now with this. I'm your doctor and if I say that you need a wheelchair, you need a wheelchair." My attending snapped at me, which made me stare at my feet in shame. "Just sit tight for a second and don't you dare close your eyes. I'll be right back."

"But-"

_Stop arguing with him stupid!_

"No buts Greeny, I'll be right back," he said gruffly and stalked out the door.

Doctor Nond closed it behind him and I was suddenly alone.

The silence of the examination room was overwhelming. I knew that I was losing my battle to my own drowsiness because my eyelids were beginning to droop. I just needed something to concentrate on, something to keep me awake. I knew what could happen, if I did fall asleep. I was a doctor, after all.

Being in a coma was definitely not on my to do list.

"Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream," I began to sing the first song that came to my head in a slurred whisper. "Merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream."

_Oh great, out of all the songs you had to pick. You had to choose the most annoying one ever created._

I repeated the verses a few times, before I realized that I felt even drowsier than I did when I first started singing the children's song. I yawned again and leaned backwards against the examination table.

_Closing my eyes for just a few second won't hurt me…_ I thought wearily, as I gave into my body's desire for my eyelids to close completely.

"Greeny!"

A worried shout startled me, before I could get truly comfortable, and my eyelids shot right open.

Before I could comprehend anything, a furious Doctor Nond was beside me, the wheelchair abandoned at the door, and he was shining that stupid penlight in my eyes again.

_Crap._

"What the hell? Are you that much of an idiot?" my attending snarled at me, which made me shrink back in fear. "I told you one simple thing, 'don't close your eyes'. I come back and what are you doing, closing your God damn eyes!" He ran a hand through his hair. "Honestly Greeny, you'll be the early death of me. I can already predict it. My blood pressure is already through the roof with you tagging around me. Now, congestive heart failure is right around the corner and it is all thanks to you."

"Sorry," I muttered an apology.

Doctor Nond shook his head and took a deep breath. I knew he was trying to control himself now. He ran his hands through his hair again, mumbled something under his own breath that I couldn't catch, before he went to fetch the wheelchair that was still in the doorway.

"Okay, now park yourself in the chair, so we can get this whole thing over with." Doctor Nond told me with exasperation clearly in his voice. He held out his hand.

I grabbed it and he helped me slide off the examination table without injuring myself. I stared reluctantly at the chair and then looked up at my own attending.

"Do I really have to?" I whined in my slurred voice. I really, _really_ didn't want to experience any more humiliation.

"Good God, has that head injury robbed you of all common sense Greeny?" Doctor Nond asked me. "This is Doctor Nond, your teacher and your doctor that you are speaking to, not one of your brainless little intern buddies. You are required to do what I tell you to do or you'll suffer the consequences. Do I make myself clear?"

"Jamie!" A stern voice made both of us turn our heads towards the door. My favorite nurse, Salma, was standing there with her hands on her hips. "Are you yelling at that poor girl after she went and got herself a concussion?"

"How'd you know I have a concussion?" I asked, before my attending could reply, and gazed curiously at the woman.

"Word travels fast here, Greeny," she explained to me with a small smile, before turning back to my attending and frowning. "You better apologize Jamie."

"Oh, no, no, no, no, you are so not making me into the bad guy here, Salma," Doctor Nond protested. "Don't tell me that you missed the part of our conversation where she was acting like a cranky two year old just because she has to sit in a wheelchair and have a CT scan?"

I winced and rubbed my temples. My head was starting to feel heavier from standing up for so long.

"Oh no, I saw that," the stocky woman said, "but you are a doctor and you should know the symptoms of a concussion by now. Irritability is one of them, remember?"

_Well, that explains a lot._ I thought and was glad that the nurse saved me from having to check one of my medical textbooks.

"Of course I remember," Doctor Nond snapped. "I didn't go to med school for four years not to know what the symptoms of a concussion are."

Salma's eyes narrowed menacingly.

"Good," She said in an eerily controlled manner, "I am glad you remember Mr. Hot-Shot-Know-It-All Doctor. But, can you answer this question. Why are you treating her the same way as you always do? Right now she's your patient, not your usual punching bag."

Salma then gave Doctor Nond a glare that was so cold that it could probably freeze over water. However, my attending remained unaffected.

"Greeny is always just Greeny to me. It's hard to see her in another way," he admitted. "Doctors are usually not patients."

"She has a real name, you know," Salma growled. "The name on your chart doesn't read 'Greeny', unless you're an incompetent. Her name is Emma Queenscove and she is under your care. Start caring for her properly, like you would do for any other patient, or you'll never hear the end of it from me."

I began rubbing my temples again, as my head began to throb even more. Never mind my attending never hearing the end of it from Salma. I would never hear the end of this from him. He didn't like being bossed around by anyone. I was so dead.

"It's fine Salma. I'm used to it," I protested in my drowsy slurred voice. I received two equally harsh glares because of this and nausea started to bubble up in my stomach, but I continued on anyway. "That's just how Doctor Nond and I do our little student-teacher thing. I'm inept or annoying, he gets pissed off at me, he berates me, and I try my best to please him after that. It's all a continuous cycle, right Doctor Nond?" I tried to flash him a small smile, but I think it just appeared like I was grimacing.

Doctor Nond was suddenly staring at me. His dark brown eyes were scrutinizing my face.

"Are you okay Greeny?" My attending asked, blatantly ignoring my last mini speech. "You're a little pale."

"Just peachy," I mumbled, as the room started to spin. I felt sick.

"Jamie, she looks ready to pass out. You better get her in that chair," Salma warned my attending.

Before Salma could finish speaking, Doctor Nond's steady hands were already guiding me into the wheelchair. My stomach started to settle and my vision cleared slightly, as my body relaxed against the back of the chair.

"You've got to stay awake Emma. Remember, sleeping and head injuries don't mix," my attending reminded me.

_Whoa, did that just happen? _I thought, as I perked up at Doctor Nond's use of my first name. I think this was the first time my attending ever uttered it.

"Emma?" I muttered drowsily in a surprised tone.

"Yes Emma, that is your name after all," he said with an eye roll. "Unless you prefer that I call you princess or Greeny?"

"Nope, Emma's just fine," I replied quickly.

"Jamie," Salma interrupted and stared pointedly at us, "shouldn't you be taking her somewhere?"

"I didn't forget about the CT scan Salma, if that's what you're implying. The great Doctor Jamie Nond doesn't forget anything," my attending told the older woman, who rolled her eyes.

"Big ego much?" Salma asked teasingly, which made my eyes widen.

_I'm pretty sure Salma is the only person on the planet who is allowed to talk to Doctor Nond like that. _I concluded and blood chilling mental images arose on what my attending would do to me, if I ever gave a smart-aleck reply like that.

"Driving me out of my freakin' mind much?" Doctor Nond retorted, which made the nurse roll her eyes, and began rolling me towards the exit. "We'll see you later Salma."

"Bye Salma," I called out to the nurse, as Doctor Nond pushed me farther down the hallway.

"Take care of yourself Greeny," I heard the nurse say.

We reached the diagnostic department a few minutes later. Doctor Nond spent the entire time en-route giving me easy medical questions to answer in order to keep me awake.

A female CT scan technician, who I recognized from previous dealings, greeted us with a big grin.

"Hi Doctor Queenscove," She said so perkily that I wondered, if she had just downed a gallon of coffee. She was Asian, like my own mother, but she had really wide black eyes. "I heard all about your nasty fall. Don't worry it happens almost every year. You aren't the first person, who the mortician's hit."

"Thanks," I muttered, though it didn't ease my feelings of embarrassment too much.

"Well, we have a room already set up for you, so we can take you in right now." She turned to my attending with that big grin still on her face that almost made me cringe. "The scan shouldn't take too long Doctor Nond. You can wait outside."

I could literally feel the tension rolling into the room. Anyone who was even remotely acquainted with my attending knew that he wasn't about to be ordered around by a woman who was practically vomiting sugar and sunshine.

"I don't think so Doctor Overly Perky. I'm coming in with you." He told the CT scan technician with a scowl on his face.

"My name is Doctor Yamamoto for your information." The technician told my attending, clearly offended. The insanely wide grin that seemed permanently etched on her face was now gone.

"Do I really look like I care?" Doctor Nond asked bluntly.

The poor woman blushed and I knew my attending had successfully taken some of the wind out of her sails.

"Um, no?" Doctor Yamamoto guessed.

"That's right doll face, now let's get going." My attending snapped.

The CT scan technician made a motion to grab my wheelchair from Doctor Nond, but he pulled me back sharply, before she could lay a hand on it.

"I can wheel her in myself, who knows when the crash from that caffeine high you're running on will occur. Greeny has enough injuries for one day without you adding to them." Doctor Nond told Doctor Yamamoto, who was now gaping openly at him. She seemed frozen in shock that someone actually had the audacity to talk to her in such a manner. He snapped his fingers in her face. "Hello? Is there anyone in there? I know that your skull is pretty much hollow, but I didn't realize that there actually was nothing inside."

I felt my own eyes widen at that. Doctor Nond could be mean, but never this mean.

_Does he have a personal vendetta against CT scan technicians? _I wondered.

"Doctor Nond, you're being extremely rude and disrespectful towards me." Doctor Yamamato finally said in a tone of voice that dripped with fury. I watched her attempt to make herself look less fearful, by stopping her lower lip from quivering. "I insist that you remain outside, while I do the scan. I really don't want to have to explain this situation to Doctor Naxen."

_Touché Doctor Yamamato. _

Doctor Nond growled and I knew that Doctor Yamamoto was so in for it now.

"If you screw this scan up in anyway, I'm coming after you," he warned the CT scan technician and handed my wheelchair, with me still in it, over to her.

"I do hundreds of CT scans every week, Doctor Nond," she cried, visibly affronted. "If you are implying that I am not able to do my job-"

My attending cut her off.

"Just shut up and get going lady," he snapped angrily.

Finally, Doctor Yamamoto seemed to get the message because all she did was let out a small huff, before wheeling me to the room with the CAT scan machine.

Unfortunately, I think that I am now a victim of association thanks to Doctor Nond. The usually friendly and happy CT scan technician hardly spoke a word to me and was very rough. When we were finally done with the scan, she left me with my attending and only said this, before turning abruptly on her heel,

"She's fine. I didn't find any internal bleeding whatsoever."

"Good, but you're still a pathetic excuse for a doctor!" He called after her harshly. "I expect the full images of this CT scan within the hour!"

I rolled my eyes.

"Did you have to be so mean to her?" I asked him, still sitting in the wheelchair, and feeling even drowsier than before. I had put a lot of effort into keep my eyes open, while I was in that machine. I didn't want to upset Doctor Nond by falling asleep. "She's just a happy person. It's not a crime to be happy."

Doctor Nond just grunted.

"There's a limit for happiness, while working in a hospital, and she's exceeding it by way too much," he muttered and began wheeling me out of the diagnostic department. "A person can only be so happy, when there are tons of sick and miserable people around."

I nodded. He made a little sense.

"So, where are we going?" I asked, the CT scan technician now long forgotten, and then yawned.

"The on call room," Doctor Nond replied. "I don't want the hassle of setting you up in a patient's room and plus, the on call room has beds so you can lie down."

"Won't that make me sleepier?" I questioned him and felt my heart beat accelerate at the thought of being in the on call room with Doctor Nond. The on call room was a legendary spot. It was where a lot of couples hooked up, during their breaks.

"Don't worry, Greeny. I'll keep you awake," he reassured me and then he started to slow down. "Well, here we are."

Doctor Nond knocked on the door.

"Anyone who is in there get out right now," he shouted. "This is Doctor Nond and I am coming inside in ten seconds, so you better be dressed and not attached to one another. You have ten-nine-eight-seven-six-five-four-three-two-one-zero. Time's up."

Just before my attending could turn the door handle, Scott Nicoline and a nurse, looking very disheveled, stumbled out of the on call room. They were both out of breath and flushed.

"You kids having fun in there?" My attending asked with his eyes narrowed at both of them.

"Uh, well you see Doctor Nond-" Scott muttered, but Doctor Nond cut him off.

"I don't really have a desire to hear what is probably an elaborately crafted lie Doctor Nicoline. Tell your excuse about having a pillow fight with this young lady to someone who is actually gullible enough to believe it."

Scott gaped at my attending, before the sensible nurse tugged on his arm and led him away.

"Interns," Doctor Nond muttered under his breath, before wheeling me inside.

He flicked on a light and closed the door behind us.

"You can get out of the chair Greeny and make yourself comfortable on one of the beds," my attending told me, as he sat down on a bed. "Do you need any help?"

I shook my head, as I got slowly out of the chair, and then flopped down on a bed straight across from Doctor Nond's.

"How are you feeling?" he asked me, his dark brown eyes were scrutinizing me and I knew he was in doctor mode.

"Tired," I admitted and rubbed my own eyes with my hands in attempt to keep myself awake. "My head doesn't feel so bad anymore, though."

"Well, that's only to be expected," my attending said. "I do prefer a tired Greeny to a cranky kindergartener Greeny, though. God, you annoyed the crap out of me before. You do realize that, right?"

I hid a smile with my hand.

"Sorry about that," I said sincerely. "I really don't know what came over me."

"Well, irritability is a symptom of a concussion, so you do actually have a legitimate excuse, Greeny," he ran his hand through his blonde hair and sighed. "Salma was right. I should have been more sensitive to you about the whole irritability thing and I guess what I am really trying to say is that I am sorry for snapping at you."

My eyebrows shot up to my hairline. Doctor Nond was actually apologizing for something. He never apologized.

"Uh, thanks," I said, still in shock. "You really don't have to apologize, though. You've done a lot for me today, a lot more than I deserve for being such a screw up."

My attending shook his head.

"You're not a screw up Greeny."

"But, what about all of those patients who aren't going to be treated by the best doctor in this hospital all because of me?" I protested.

Doctor Nond shocked me again. He laughed.

"You really like feeding my ego, don't you Greeny?" My attending said with a smirk on his face. "I appreciate the effort, but believe it or not, there are actually other somewhat competent doctors in this hospital that I trust to keep people alive, like Cooper and Kennan."

"Do you think I will ever be one of those doctors?" I asked softly and locked my gaze with Doctor Nond's. I was hoping by maintaining direct eye contact that he would get the idea that I didn't want a b.s. answer. I was being dead serious with my question and I needed to know where I stood with my attending at this point.

"I'll be honest. You still have a lot more to learn," he told me. "You have the knowledge, hell that's for sure. Sometimes I wonder if you are like a human medical textbook," I nearly chuckled at this, "but there are other things that you still need to enhance like your bedside manner and quicker responses to trauma situations. We'll work on that though. You'll get better and I really think that one day you will be one of those doctors for me, despite being a Queenscove." He added with a grimace.

I couldn't help, but smile.

"Thanks,"

"An ego boost for an ego boost, right?" Doctor Nond said.

"I wouldn't exactly call that an ego boost," I teased.

"You really did take a bad blow to the head, if you're joking around with me," he said and tried to make a serious face. I knew better, though. "Honestly Greeny, you know how much it really pained me to say that about you and now you just threw it back in my face. You know that I rarely act this nicely to a person."

"Hmm… you actually have been acting awfully kind to me today and come to think of it, you only treat your patients this nicely when they are close to dying," I muttered, "Is there something you're not telling me? Am I on my death bed?"

"Practically," He muttered. "You nearly killed yourself like two times today. First, you pulled that stunt with the stupid mortician and his gurney and then you almost fell asleep with a head injury. That's the closest any of my interns have ever come to death under my watch." He told me and then surprisingly looked down at his feet. "I'll be honest with you Greeny. You had me worried."

I felt the blood creep up to my face and tried to cover it up by rubbing my temples.

"Uh, well," I muttered.

_Get a grip!_ My mind shouted at me.

"Yeah, well I guess I should refrain from running in the hallways in the future." I finally joked halfheartedly. "It's not the best place for my morning jog."

_Ugh, you sounded like an idiot!_

"Definitely," My attending agreed with me, though I don't know why. He probably let it slide because of my head injury. Doctor Nond then stared up at me. "You never did tell me why you were running in the first place. Care to explain?"

"I was running late," I told him. "The last time I was late you were really pissed off, put me on bed pan duty and threatened me with the supply closet, if I was late again. I'm not particularly fond with the supply closet."

It was true. Ever since I got locked in the supply closet for five hours straight, I developed a small phobia of it. I always had to take a nurse or Teddy in with me, whenever I had to fetch something. I was afraid someone would lock me inside again and I would never be found for days. A stupid fear, of course, but so far I couldn't cure it.

My attending was shaking his head.

"You got yourself a grade two concussion just so you wouldn't have to piss me off?"

"I don't like it when you're pissed off." I admitted meekly.

Doctor Nond rolled his eyes.

"Trust me Greeny, nobody does." He said. "Still, I'll admit I'm a little concerned that you took it so far that you got yourself injured badly. Is there insanity in that Queenscove family of yours or are you really that afraid of me?"

I held back a burst of giggles that threatened to come out. Just thinking about my family's antics, especially my own father's set me into a fit of laughter.

"I think it might be family insanity. My Aunt Kel always insisted that my father was insane for back talking his drill sergeant." I told my attending and smiled fondly at the thought of my aunt and dad in their military days. "My dad nicknamed his drill sergeant the 'Stump' and he was always challenging everything the man said. He had to do _a lot_ of punishment work for all of his misconduct. My Aunt Kel said he was in trouble more than he was out of trouble back then."

"You miss your family, don't you?" Doctor Nond asked abruptly.

I felt my shoulders droop.

"Yeah," I confessed and suddenly felt very gloomy. "I hardly see them. Plus, my dad and I haven't talked in a few months now."

"I'm sorry to hear that." My attending said sincerely.

"Yeah, I'm just hoping my dad will come around soon. He can be stubborn sometimes, but I know that he'll see my point of view eventually." I told Doctor Nond.

I wanted to change the topic. I didn't really like talking about my family in front of my attending and I am positive that he didn't like hearing about it, considering he despised my family.

"So," I began, "I saw you at the California Tavern last night."

_Oh great, out of all the stupid things you could have brought up, you had to bring that up. Fantastic. Now, I am going to have to hear all about his sexual conquest with the Latino beauty. Kill me._

Doctor Nond stared at me.

"You were there?" he asked, "I didn't see you at all."

_How could you? You were attached at the face with that other woman._

"Yeah, I came in around nine," I said casually. "I had a few drinks."

_A few? More like ten._

"Were you by yourself?" Doctor Nond questioned me.

"Yeah," I lied. I didn't want my attending to know that Hill had eventually joined me. Hill already put suspicions in Doctor Nond's mind at the hospital yesterday that we had sex, which wasn't true then, but was actually true now.

_Damn._

"You should have come over to my table," he told me.

"Well, you seemed a little… um, preoccupied," I said and tried to eradicate the mental images of Doctor Nond and the black haired beauty that were springing up in my mind. Unfortunately, I was failing miserably.

"Oh, you must have seen me with Isabella," my attending said and for some reason looked uncomfortable. "We had just met. It was only a one night thing."

"Oh,"

_This is so freakin' awkward! Make it stop!_

Suddenly, I yawned. It was the first one I had let out, since I came into the on call room with my attending.

"Damn and I thought I was doing pretty well too," Doctor Nond said and checked his wrist watch.

"What?" I asked, now confused, but relieved that there was another change of topic.

"Remember when I told you that I'd be trying to keep you awake in the on call room? Well, that's why we've been talking for so long, to keep you conscious," he explained and then checked his wrist watch again. "Well, enough time has gone by that I can let you fall asleep for a half hour and then wake you up again to question you."

"Doctor Nond, are you sure you want to spend the next few hours watching me sleep?" I felt myself slowly turn red just thinking about it. "I'm sure you have better things to do. I can just call Doctor Hill and ask him to bring me back to my apartment. He can watch me there."

My attending frowned.

"Doctor Hill? Is he the doctor, or should I say incompetent jackass, who we had a lovely discussion with yesterday?" Doctor Nond asked with his eyes now narrowed.

I nodded.

"Absolutely not then," my attending said. "I don't trust the slime ball to wake you up. He would probably turn on Sports Center, pop a pizza pocket into the microwave, and forget all about you."

I had to give Doctor Nond credit. I could truly see Hill doing that.

"Fine,"

I sighed in attempt to look reluctant. I was a little. I'll admit that having my attending keeping a vigil over my unconscious self could turn out to be pretty embarrassing, especially if I did something weird in my sleep like talk or snore. However, I was secretly pleased on how protective Doctor Nond was being of me today. He cleared his schedule to be my doctor, he nearly had a fist fight with the CT scan technician because he thought that she wouldn't take proper care of me, and he was now watching over me for God knows how many more hours, just to make sure I wasn't brain damaged. If that didn't show he cared at least a little about me, then I don't know what would.

I pulled back the thin sheets of the on call bed and curled underneath them. I yawned again and felt my eyelids begin to droop.

"I just wanted to say thank you Doctor Nond, for everything today," I muttered sleepily. "I really appreciate you sticking around."

My attending nodded and I swore I saw a small corner of his mouth turned up into a smile, as my eyelids closed completely. The final thing I heard before I slipped into unconsciousness was Doctor Nond's voice.

"Sleep well Greeny."

* * *

A/N First of all, I just want everyone to know how happy I am because of the review response from the last chapter. Thank you so so much! I appreciated the constructive criticism very much KrisElven and hopefully I will find time to make the corrections you suggested. Thank you- secret-scribbled-notebooks, horsecrazed, whisperingwinds11, & Kailun for all of your kind words and to answer secret-scribbled-notebooks: I watch the occasional House re-run on USA network. It's a great show. Thanks for reviewing!

I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Sorry updates are taking a little long, but I have vacation this week, so maybe I'll be able to squeeze out another chapter before I have to go back to school. Every review is deeply appreciated! Thanks for reading!


	6. Astray

**My Own Way**

Chapter 6

_If only I knew what I know  
I'd make it a point to say so  
To everyone that got me here  
And everyone that made it_

_Clear I was dead wrong all along  
You said it for my sake  
That I would not lose my way  
When I was astray ..._

_I'm doing the best that I could.  
Trying my best to be understood  
Maybe I'm changing slowly  
I get out, turn around....._

_If only I knew I was dead wrong all along  
You said it for my sake  
that I would not lose my way  
When I was dead wrong all along_

_Mine is not a new story  
Mine is not a new story  
Mine is nothing new  
But it is for me_

_So I was dead wrong all along  
You said it for my sake  
That you thought I'd lost my way  
When I was dead wrong all along  
You said it for my sake  
That I would not lose my way_

_Did I really lose my way?  
Or are you afraid?_

The Fray- Dead Wrong

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not the characters, nor the song(s).

* * *

"_Today, you folks are going to be seeing partly cloudy skies with a high temperature of seventy one degrees. The temperature will drop tonig-"_

Static.

"_R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Find out what it means to me, R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Take care TCB-"_

Static.

"_This country needs to pull its head out of its ass and realize how the Tyran government is robbing us blin-"_

Static.

"_It's a beautiful day, Sky falls, you feel like, It's a beautiful day, Don't let it get away, You're on the road, But you've got no destination…"_

I fiddled with the radio dial, as my car flew down the freeway. On contrary to the U2 song, I actually did have a destination. Today, I was driving to Los Angles' military base to visit my sister, cousin, aunt, and uncle. My older sister, Emiko, had practically driven me insane just so I would come today. She left about fifty messages on my apartment's answering machine and my cell phone of just plain whining, along with a few threats. After hearing message number thirty five, I couldn't take it any longer. I called Emiko up and promised her that I would visit her on the day I had a night shift, which was conveniently on a Saturday.

I pulled into the base and up to the main entrance, where a few armored guards were stationed. I flashed them my visitors pass and pulled out my driver's license and registration for their scrutiny.

Once I passed their assessment, I was given directions to the visitor's center, even though I've been there countless other times. It was a short drive and a few minutes later I was entering through the front doors of the building.

"Emma!" The familiar voice of my older sister shrieked.

I was crushed a second later by Emiko's muscular arms.

_Ouch._

"Hey Emiko," My voice was muffled by the fact that my face was buried in her shoulder.

"I can't believe you're actually here! It seems like months, since I've last seen you," my older sister cried enthusiastically. "The last time was dad's birthday in October, remember?"

"Yep, this visit has been way overdue," I concluded, before covering up a yawn. I had worked a double shift the night before and I was still a little tired from it.

Emiko took a step backwards to inspect me.

"That hospital is way too hard on you Emma," she declared. "Do you see those dark bags under your eyes?"

I nodded. I was well aware. I had to stare at them every morning in the mirror after all.

"The hospital has weird hours," I admitted. "I love it there, though."

"Dad wouldn't give you such wacky hours," my older sister muttered under her breath. She probably thought I hadn't heard her, but my hearing wasn't that bad.

However, I didn't come here to argue, so I let it slide.

"So, um, yeah," I looked around at the nearly empty visitor's center and felt a little disappointed. "Where is everyone else at? I thought Bryon, Aunt Kel, and Uncle Dom were coming too."

"Don't worry. They're all coming," Emiko reassured me and then pulled out her cell phone. She flipped it open and pressed a few buttons, before sliding it back into her pocket. "They just went to pick up lunch for us at the pizzeria. They should be here any second now."

Suddenly, there was a loud bang of a car door coming from outside.

"In fact, this should be them right now," my sister said and shifted her gaze expectantly towards the front entrance of the visitor center.

"Mini Meathead!" my Uncle Dom was the first one through the door and he had a wide grin on his face. He strode over almost immediately and hugged me tightly. "How is my favorite niece?"

"Great," I said and then smiled up at him, "How are you doing Uncle Dom?"

"Fantastic as always," he replied, still wearing that grin. "Wolset says to tell you that he wishes he could have seen you, but his mommy wanted him home for the weekend."

I laughed at this along with my uncle.

"Oh boy, his mommy must have a tight leash on him," I said and we both laughed again. "I bet he was really disappointed, though. I'm sure he had an elaborate prank ready to pull on me."

Corporal Wolset was one of my aunt and uncle's friends in the military. If there was one thing to know about Wolset, it would be that he was a legendary prankster. He was always pulling gags on everyone, but his favorite target was one of the generals, Raoul Goldenlake.

"Yeah, he was cooking up one for you the other night, before his mommy called. He mentioned something about an old gym sock and fluffenutter," Dom shrugged. "Beats me what it really was."

"Hey Emma,"

I hadn't realized that my Aunt Kel had been standing by my side.

"Kel!" I cried and threw my arms around the older woman. I had really missed my favorite aunt. "It's really good to see you!"

"Same here," she said with a small smile. My Aunt Kel had grown up in Japan with my mother, so she wasn't really big with emotions. I knew that a small smile coming from my aunt, in all actuality was a wide grin from a normal person. "How are things at Mercy General?"

"Pretty good," I said and tried to put a lot of enthusiasm in my voice. I didn't want my aunt formulating the same negative opinion that some of my relatives had about my current place of employment. "It's a lot of hours, but it's been worth it. How are things here?" I added.

"Same old, same old," Kel replied. "The new recruits are getting ready for their midyear examinations, so things have been a little hectic. Otherwise though, it's been relatively quiet."

"That's a good thing, though," I reminded my aunt. I remembered all of the horrible war stories my dad, aunt, and uncle told. If there was a war now, I would hate to have to go on with my daily life, while I knew they all were in danger.

Kel nodded in agreement.

"Hello Queenscove,"

I jumped and turned around sharply at the sound of that voice. A short, purple eyed, fiery red haired woman had approached me from behind.

"Alanna?" I gaped at her. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard that you were coming to the base, so I decided to surprise you," she told me. "Unless, you'd prefer that I leave…"

"No, no, no," I shook my head repeatedly to emphasis my point. "I wasn't expecting you, that's all. You took me by surprise."

The older woman grinned wryly.

"Well, that was my original plan," she said. "Have you patched things up with Nealan yet?"

I had forgotten how direct Alanna could be.

"No not yet," I admitted and tried to keep the melancholy out of my voice.

Alanna rolled her eyes.

"You Queenscoves are the most stubborn people I've ever met," she declared, "Though, I guess I'm not one to judge others on their family problems. My own Aly ran away from me to go join the MI6. You remember her?"

I nodded. Aly was Alanna's only daughter. We had met once at some party my parents had thrown. She was an ambitious and clever woman, who was always a little on the wild side. I remember when I saw her last; her hair was a vibrant shade of blue. I was surprised Alanna hadn't butchered her for that.

"You know dad, I really appreciate you helping me carry in all of this food."

My cousin Bryon had finally made an appearance. He was balancing a few tin foiled wrapped items on top of two pizza boxes, while simultaneously pushing the front door open with his foot. He looked exasperated and was throwing a glare at my uncle, who just simply shrugged.

"Sorry," Dom said. "Next time I guess I won't overestimate your strength."

Bryon grimaced at the jab, as he set down all of the food on one of the free tables. However, when he spotted me standing next to Alanna, his face light up.

"Em's!" he cried and reached me in two long strides. I received another bone crushing hug. "I'm so glad you came!"

"Me too," I said, once he released me and I was able to breathe. "Like Emiko was saying to me earlier, it's been way too long, like almost a month and a half now."

Bryon whistled.

"Wow, it's really been that long?" he shook his head. "You definitely need to visit the base more often. I feel like I never see you anymore."

"What about you visiting me?" I retorted and glared at him. "I don't even think you've ever seen the inside of my apartment."

"Okay, okay, okay, don't give me that look. We'll figure out a day and I'll swing on down," Bryon promised. "I'll even pick up Emmet along the way. It will be like old times."

I smiled.

"I would like that," I told him.

I really missed the days when my cousin, my twin, and I would just hang out, play some two on one basketball (Emmet and I versus Bryon. My cousin, who's one hundred times more athletic than my twin and I combined, always won), and hit the occasional bar. Our jobs with their hectic schedules just seemed to ruin that, though. We were lucky now if we could get in a full phone conversation with one another without getting interrupted by a pager or a sergeant's shout.

"Hey, you kids coming over to eat?" Alanna called. She was sitting down at the table with Emiko, Kel, and Dom and looked irritated. "I'm starved and you know how much worse my temper gets when I'm the tiniest bit hungry."

My cousin and I exchanged knowing looks, before rushing over to the table.

We spent the next two hours catching up. I talked about some of my recent experiences, inside and outside of the hospital. I left out a lot, though. I didn't want my relatives and Alanna knowing about my two new male roommates and the horrible fact that I had slept with one of them. If that ever got back to my father, I would never see the light of day.

Emiko was in the middle of telling me about her new boyfriend, a guy with the last name of Veldine, when my cell phone alarm went off.

I sighed and shut it off.

"Sorry, that's my cue to leave," I apologized.

"Why do you need to leave?" Emiko whined and a frown graced her facial features. "You practically just got here."

"I need to get at least six hours of sleep before my next shift at the hospital," I explained.

The mentioning of my job had set my older sister off. Emiko's nostrils instantly flared. I knew she was angry. I braced myself for what she was about to say. An angry Emiko was a horrible Emiko.

"I thought you were going to spend the entire day at the base?" she growled. "You promised me!"

"The hospital comes first," I informed her. I didn't want to sound cold, but it was the truth. Patients depended on me. I couldn't just blow them off for my own personal reasons.

"You're just being selfish as usual Emma!" Emiko shouted at me.

_Oh, the irony of that statemen,._ I thought bitterly.

"Now Emiko-" my Aunt Kel tried to cut in calmly.

However, my older sister just plowed right on.

"You abandoned our family for another hospital, you won't patch things up with dad so family functions become a nightmare, and now you put others before your own flesh and blood! What the hell happened to my baby sister? She certainly isn't you. The Emma I knew would have never done this! The Emma I knew loved her family more than anything in the world."

I'll admit that stung. Emmet had told me that Emiko had never approved of me working at Mercy General, but she never alienated me from the rest of the family because of it like my father had. She had accepted it with a grudging indifference.

_I guess she isn't indifferent anymore. Is she? _I thought bitterly.

"I do love all of you, but I have more important priorities now. Emiko, I have living, breathing people who put their lives in my hands everyday and I have other doctors who depend on me to help save those lives. I can't just abandon them all for a family function. They need me more than you need me," I hissed at her. My temper had finally snapped. I was tired of everyone in my family judging me for my decisions, "And plus, it's my life Emiko, not dads and certainly not yours. I'm not changing my course just to please you both. So please, just do me a big favor, and you can tell dad this too, - but the hell out of my life."

I sprang up from my seat at the table, before storming out of the visitor's center. I felt bad for not saying goodbye to my Aunt, Uncle, cousin, and Alanna, but I was too furious with Emiko to stick around.

"Queenscove? What a surprise," a silky voice made my head turn sharply. Getting out of the car parked next to my own was none other than Ian Stone. He looked as handsome as ever in a tight black shirt and faded jeans. A pair of sunglasses hid his beautiful ice blue eyes.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I snarled.

"Someone's a little touchy today," he replied, smoothly avoiding my question. "Are the bitch cells in complete control of your body now?"

Don't say or do anything you'll regret. I chanted several times in my head, as I jammed my car keys into the lock in an attempt to ignore Stone.

"Look, as lovely as it would be to stand around and chat with you, I actually have to get some sleep. I need to function during my graveyard shift tonight," I informed him and got brusquely into my car.

"Don't think that I've forgotten about you embarrassing me in front of the entire hospital, Queenscove," Ian shouted at me, as I put my car into reverse. "You're still going to pay for that."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't really have time for your crap. Enact your horrible revenge another day," I rolled down my window and yelled back, before slamming down on the gas pedal.

I arrived back at my apartment a half hour later. The first thing I spotted when I opened the door was Hill, who was lounging on my couch and watching Sports Center in his boxer shorts and a wife beater. When he saw me enter in a fury, he nearly spit out the shovel load of macaroni and cheese that he had just somehow managed to fit in his mouth.

"Holy shit!" he cried with his mouth still disgustingly full and sprung up from the couch. "I didn't realize you'd be this pissed about the whole, 'no eating on the couch rule'. It will never happen again. I swear! Just don't go all bitchy on me."

I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not pissed about that," I told him gruffly and if this was any other situation, I would actually be amused by how fearful Hill looked. "My sister and I got into a big fight and then I had a run in with Ian Stone. It was a double negative."

Hill visibly relaxed.

"Oh…" his voiced trailed a little bit, "well if you aren't mad at me, then go bitch somewhere else. You know that I can't stand hormonal girls."

Hill returned to his spot on the couch.

"So helpful…" I muttered sarcastically.

Hill twisted around to face me.

"What do you want me to do? Have a heart to heart with you?" he demanded.

We both laughed at that one. Just the idea of Hill and I talking to each other about our feelings was enough to reduce me to a fit of giggles.

"No, but seriously, I just expected-" I began, once the laughter subsided, but he cut me off.

"Dear god, sleep with a girl twice and they expect you to be there for them," Hill groaned, when he saw my glare, he continued. "Look, Emma, I don't do this whole touchy feely crap. I'm not that kind of guy."

"That's so typical of you," I growled.

"Christ woman, don't you have any friends that you can whine to?" he asked me in an annoyed tone. "We hate each other, remember? And plus, the highlights from the Dodgers game last night are about to come on and I can't miss them."

I sighed, admitting defeat. I don't know what really possessed me to think that Hill would be a good person to talk about this with. I must have inhaled too many toxic fumes from the cars and trucks on the highway, during my drive back to the apartment.

"Fine, you win," I said and made my way towards my bedroom, after grabbing my sleeping pills from my medicine cabinet.

"It's better that you keep your feelings all bottled up inside of you anyway, Queenscove," Hill called after me, as I closed my bedroom door behind me. "It's much healthier for both you and me."

* * *

Two days later...

"Mom, will you please just listen to me?" I begged into my phone. I had just informed my mother that I had no intention of attending Thanksgiving dinner and she wasn't taking it well. Don't get me wrong, I would have loved to see her and Emmet, but considering that my older sister Emiko had just recently been added to my 'I'm Not Speaking to You' list and my dad was basically becoming a permanent member of said list, seeing as we haven't talked in four months, I was going to have to pass. It would be way too awkward to spend the holiday with them.

Anyway, let me backtrack and mention that my mom had to have the worst timing in the world. She decided to call me just as I was about to put my car keys into the ignition. Teddy, Hill, and I were on our way to the hospital for our shifts and I had volunteered to carpool with them. I was going to drive because there was no way in hell that my precious car would be in the hands of either of my inept roommates. Unfortunately, I knew I was going to have to take the risk and let Teddy (who I trusted oh-so-much more than Hill) drive. I hadn't gotten the opportunity to speak with my mom since Emiko and I fought and I knew I couldn't pass up the chance, even if it was risking my precious car's safety. So, I got out of the driver's seat and threw the keys to Teddy, who fumbled them, before snagging them in his grasp.

Of course, Hill had begun to whine like a little girl about being shoved in the backseat with no driving privileges. Gods be damned though if I even let him lay one finger on the steering wheel of my Toyota Camry. I'd rather have Teddy, who was a border line incompetent doctor touch my car, than Hill. That was definitely saying a lot about Hill.

I guess it's time to get back to the present.

"Mommy!" Hill cried from the backseat.

He was mocking me. Damn him and his immaturity. Couldn't he see how upset I was that my mom wasn't taking my news about me not being able to attend Thanksgiving dinner well?

"I suggest that you shut the hell up Hill, before I shove this phone so far up your ass that you won't be able to walk straight for weeks," I growled, after putting my hand on the phone's speaker. If my mom heard the language I was using, I would be mince meat.

"Guys," Teddy moaned. I noticed that his knuckles had turned white, as he gripped the steering wheel harder. "I can't concentrate fully on the road. Will you please lower your voices?"

Hill rolled his eyes and muttered something that was probably extremely rude. Luckily for him I didn't hear it, so I returned to my phone conversation with my mom.

"Emma," my mom sounded so sad and I hated myself for it, "can't you work things out with your father and sister? I can't stand this anymore. I want to be a family again."

Despite the sirens and bells that were going off in my own head, I couldn't stop myself from demanding an explanation for this from my mother,

"Why are you putting the blame on me? They should be the ones apologizing to me, not the other way around. They were the ones who caused the conflict in the first place."

"Oh Emma," my mom moaned into the phone, "You and your father are exactly alike- prideful and stubborn."

I sighed. It wasn't like I hadn't heard this a hundred times before.

"Mom, you know I'm not a pushover," I told her doggedly. "I'm not caving in. I'll live my life the way I chose to live it."

I knew my mother had enough of this conversation from what she said next.

"Well Emma, I just want you to know your life you chose is going to be a very lonely one," my mom informed me solemnly, before I heard the muffled sound of her hanging up the phone.

_Fucking fantastic._ I thought. Frustrated, I ran my hands through my brown curls and resisted the urge to pound my head repeatedly against my car's window.

"What's wrong sweet cheeks?" Hill asked with a leer, as we pulled into the hospital's parking lot.

Luckily, my ice cold glare was enough to silence him. Hill was actually intelligent enough to know when to shut his mouth.

Teddy parked my car, turned it off, and shakily handed me the keys.

"Thanks for driving," I told him sincerely and I hoped I kept all the bitterness and anger out of my voice. Teddy was a guy who got scared easily and if I sounded furious, he would probably think the reason that I was upset was because of him.

"N-no problem," he stuttered.

_Damn, I must still sound pissed off._ I thought, as I got out of the car. I couldn't fix this with Teddy now, though. I had to meet up with Doctor Nond in five minutes, plus find a decent tasting cup of coffee that would satisfy my attending.

Leaving Teddy and Hill far behind, I dashed inside the hospital towards the break room, where the coffee machine was. I was at a jog, though. I was done with full out running through the hospital's halls. I had learned my lesson ever since I had received my concussion a week ago.

Just thinking about the concussion episode made my face flush and I nearly dropped the Styrofoam cup that I was pouring my attending's precious brown liquid into.

_Ugh, that was so embarrassing,_ I thought with a feeling of shame creep over me.

Doctor Nond had ended up keeping vigil over me in the on call room for about four hours, before driving me home. He actually had stuck around at my apartment for another half hour, before Teddy showed up from his shift and my attending left me to the care of my roommate.

Once I was done getting Doctor Nond his coffee, I set off to our usual meeting spot, the nurse's station. Doctor Nond was already there, a chart in hand.

"Good afternoon princess," he greeted me without looking up from the chart he was scanning through. "I hope you put on enough fruit scented hand lotion, before your shift. We have a lot of patients today and I don't want your soft tiny hands getting calluses from all the hard work." I thought that Doctor Nond was done, but apparently he hadn't had enough. "Also, I know you're not used to 'hard work', so I assure you that we'll take it slow to begin with. After all, you grew up in the castle of Queenscove. I don't expect you to know what 'hard work' is, since your maids and butlers did all of it," he sighed dramatically, "You're lucky that I am so understanding of your needs princess, not many bosses would take all of this into consideration."

_Can't I catch a break from at least one person? _I thought.

I mean come on, I knew I was Doctor Nond's personal punching bag, but it would have still been nice if I could have just been greeted with a simple 'good afternoon princess' and left it at that. Was it really necessary for my attending to add in the rest of that painful mouthful?

_He's Doctor Nond. Of course he has to attach all the extra insults to his welcoming. That's just the way he is,_ I thought with an internal sigh.

Even though I was well aware of this negative character trait of my attending and usually I wouldn't dare to dish it right back to him, but I was still in a bit of a mood from the conversation with my mother. I couldn't help it. It had to be done.

"Oh, believe me Doctor Nond I'm absolutely overflowing with gratitude. Thank goodness you're so thoughtful of my needs, otherwise I would have never lasted at a hospital like this," I shot back sarcastically, grimacing, and gruffly held out the cup of coffee for my attending to take.

Doctor Nond finally looked up from his chart and gazed at me curiously before snatching the coffee from my still outstretched hand.

"What's up your ass today?" he demanded with a frown.

Is he actually showing concern for me?

My head began to spin with thoughts. This could easily be a trick, a way to make me look like a fool for believing that he was remotely interested in my personal life, but maybe Doctor Nond was being serious for once. Maybe, the concussion experience really changed his perspective on our teacher-student relationship and he was really acting like a genuine friend towards me.

"Well, my mom-" I had actually started to explain my current predicament, when he cut me off.

"Actually, I change my mind. Please, please, please don't tell me what your issues are today. I'm begging you Greeny. I have enough on my mind without having to waste precious brain space on your garbage."

_Genuine friend, my ass, _I thought bitterly.

"Jamie, may I please have a word?"

My chief of medicine, Doctor Gregory Naxen, was walking towards us with a disgruntled looking Doctor Cooper in tow. Behind the red haired woman was my fellow intern Teddy, who was scampering after his attending and looked like he was about to wet himself.

Doctor Nond scowled, before spinning around to face Doctor Naxen.

"Greg, what do I owe the horror?"

The chief of medicine rolled his eyes.

"Oh, cut the crap Jamie," he said sternly. "We both know you're not pissed off anymore about having Doctor Queenscove as your intern. In fact, word has gotten around that you two actually are getting along quite well," Doctor Naxen added with a smirk.

"Don't make me vomit," Doctor Nond said and looked at me with what I hoped was fake disgust.

I saw Doctor Cooper roll her own eyes and then she winked at me. She thought my attending was faking too.

My chief of medicine shook his head, "Let me cut to the chase. I was supposed to teach a refresher class in bedside manner to the interns at three, but I'm now caught up in a meeting."

My own thoughts cut into Doctor Naxen's words. We had a class today? Damn, I should really start looking at my calendar more often. I wondered if Hill had remembered about our class. I doubted it. He was a complete dumb ass after all. I internally sighed. Now, I'll have to page him about it.

Ugh, I hated the idea of having any extra contact with Hill. Just having him living in my apartment was enough. I didn't want to start communicating with him via pager now. Though, if I didn't tell him about it and he missed the meeting, Doctor Naxen will yell at him about it. Then, Hill will just bitch about it to me and-

A sharp angry whistle cut off my thoughts. I looked up and realized that the chief of medicine, Doctor Cooper, and Teddy were all gone.

_Damn, did I just zone out?_

"Greeny stop standing there like a vegetable! We have to cram about three hours of work into an hour because of that stupid class," Doctor Nond growled at me.

I knew my attending was pissed. That was easy to deduct, as he took off down the hallway with his white lab coat billowing in a menacing manner behind him. I scurried to keep up. I wondered what could have set him off, though. If only I paid attention to what Doctor Naxen was saying, instead of thinking about stupid Aidan Hill. Damn it.

"So," I was nearly out of breath, trying to follow Doctor Nond, as he barreled into the ICU. I hoped my question came out as casual, like I was actually paying attention before, "what's going on with that class?"

_Casual my ass, you're a complete moron._ I thought and mentally cursed myself.

My attending spun around to glare at me.

"Dear god, please tell me that you know what our chief of medicine subjected Cooper and I to Greeny," he snapped.

I stared up at him like a deer caught in the headlights.

"You have reached a new level of idiocy. You do realize that, right?" my attending asked me after running a hand through his hair and I nodded numbly in agreement.

_I'm too young to die._ I thought feebly. _Please don't kill me!_

"Pay attention!" Doctor Nond shouted irately at me, which earned us the curious looks of bystanders in the ICU. "What do you have Queenscove? ADD? Some kind of short term memory loss? You're a doctor. You can't zone out like a kindergartener! What if a patient was telling you something important that could save their life and you were daydreaming like a little pansy?" His voice suddenly became dangerously low. "And trust me, if that ever happened Queenscove and I found out about it, you'd be out of this hospital so fast, it would make your head spin."

I gulped and nodded vigorously.

"Yes sir, it won't happen again," I assured him.

I blinked in surprise at the word 'sir' slipping out of my mouth. 'Sir' was what I used to call my father as a teenager whenever I had screwed up in some way and he had gotten really angry with me. I used it to show my father that he was in charge and that I completely respected his authority. Why it had come out in conversation with Doctor Nond was beyond me.

"Like hell it won't," my attending growled at me and then, marched over to a patient's bed. He snatched the chart off of it and began to skim through it. "Mrs. Rodriguez had another seizure again last night."

Mrs. Rodriguez had been in the ICU for two days now after receiving a head injury in a car accident. She had been suffering from post-traumatic seizures on top of her fractured clavicle.

"How are you feeling today Mrs. Rodriguez?" I asked the woman with a forced smile. I was still quite upset from Doctor Nond's last scathing speech.

"My head is really pounding and I feel a little nauseas." Mrs. Rodriguez admitted.

"Don't worry," I told her, "I'll have a nurse get you medication for that."

Doctor Nond nodded curtly in agreement.

"We're going to run another CT scan later Mrs. Rodriguez," my attending informed the patient and put the chart back at the end of her bed. "I want to see get another look at your brain after that second seizure."

"That sounds good to me Doctor," Mrs. Rodriguez replied with a small smile. "As long as it helps me get better faster,"

"Of course," Doctor Nond actually returned the smile. "Come on," his demeanor had changed in a split second and he growled at me.

I lowered my head in shame, before scurrying after my attending. However, a small gasp and then the sound of a bed rattling stopped me dead in my tracks.

I looked back in horror, as Mrs. Rodriguez's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she began to convulse.

Doctor Nond cursed loudly. In a split second, we had both run back to her bed and held the woman down on opposite sides. We couldn't risk her hurting herself even more, especially her clavicle.

"She's seizing!" he snapped at me and looked me straight in the eye. "What medication do I push Queenscove?"

My brain worked on overdrive. I knew I couldn't let my attending down this time.

"Valproate, sir," I replied breathlessly.

"Very good," My attending complimented, but I was too busy pinning down the writhing Mrs. Rodriguez to be pleased. "Nurse, we need a 100mgs of Valproate stat!" Doctor Nond yelled.

A nurse I didn't recognize dashed to Doctor Nond's side and handed him the medication. My attending immediately injected the medication into Mrs. Rodriguez's IV. A few seconds later, the woman abruptly stopped convulsing and lay motionless on her bed.

My body felt completely numb, as I took a deep, but shaky breath and then I stepped back from the patient's bead. My brain hadn't gone numb, though, it was slightly malfunctioning. The only thought that could repeatedly pass through my head at that moment was,_ 'Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, holy crap…'_

"Greeny?" Doctor Nond's voice snapped me out of my trance. Luckily for me, his tone lacked its usual sharpness. His voice was surprisingly soft. "Are you going to get those vitals for me?"

I nodded twice.

"Yes sir," I muttered, before reading Mrs. Rodriguez's EKG, BP, and oxygen levels.

I reported back to my attending, who started to scribble a few things down on the patient's chart, before I wiped my brow. Holding down a seizing patient was a lot more tiring than I first believed.

Doctor Nond placed the chart back at the end of the bed and turned to me.

"We'll get her that CT scan after Cooper and I teach you that pointless refresher course in bedside manner." My attending said with a scowl.

_Oh, so that's what Doctor Naxen was telling Doctor Nond while I zoned out._

My attending cleared his throat and my now fear filled green eyes jumped up to meet his hard brown ones.

_Crap! I did it again!_

Doctor Nond sighed.

"Even though you are a daydreaming princess, I'll admit that you did pretty well during Mrs. Rodriguez seizure," he added.

"Um, thank you?" I replied with uncertainty.

_Did this mean he wasn't going to yell at me for blanking again? _I wondered.

"No problem," Doctor Nond told me and started walking away to see our next patient. "Oh and Greeny?"

_Here it comes. The eye of the storm has passed over me and now comes the horrible part. Crap. Crap. Crap._

My attending hadn't turned around to face me and kept his gaze straight ahead.

"Yes?"

I hoped my voice wasn't shaking.

"I know you're still scared shitless from my little speech before, but please cut it out with all the 'sirs'." He said, paused outside a patient's private room, and looked at me. "A 'sir' is a man in their fifties. I'm only thirty three. I got a while to go so until then, no sirs. Is that clear Greeny?"

_That was it? He was only concerned on how I was addressing him?_

Relief and joy washed over me and I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. He really wasn't going to scream bloody murder at me again. I was in the clear.

"Yes, Doctor Nond,"

Doctor Nond nodded brusquely, before stalking into our next patient's room. Since I played the role of the good little puppy dog/intern, I followed obediently behind him.

We spent the next forty five minutes in warped speed. Doctor Nond and I bounced from patient to patient to patient until we had seen all of them. Rest assured though, my attending informed me quite gruffly that we were going to come back later for another patient sweep. The next one was going to be much more thorough and time consuming, which I didn't mind at all. It was my job after all.

Doctor Nond deposited his charts at the nurse's station and then snapped his fingers at me.

"Come on Greeny, let's get this load of crap over with." He said with a reluctant sigh.

I followed my attending to the hospital's classroom on the second floor. We found that Doctor Cooper was already inside, but there was no Teddy in sight.

_Did she finally succeed in driving him to an early death? _I wondered. I hoped not. Teddy was my only bearable roommate.

"This is ridiculous. Everyone knows how much I hate anything that has to do with bedside manner." Doctor Nond immediately growled, as I settled in a desk in the middle of the room. "Why in god's name would Greg make us teach this class? We both suck at this and plus, it's taking away from the patients. Couldn't he get some pansy to do it?"

"Early April Fool's joke?" Doctor Grace Cooper guessed halfheartedly.

Doctor Nond groaned and took a seat on top of the table at the front of the room.

"This is absurd." Hill grumbled loudly, as he entered the room with two charts tucked under his arms. "I could be finishing up my discharge summaries, instead I'm stuck listening to this garbage."

Hill didn't even notice the harsh glares of both of the attendings, as he plopped down in the seat next to me. Even though Doctor Nond and Doctor Cooper didn't want to be here, I'm positive they weren't happy that their seminar on bedside manner was being dubbed as 'garbage' from the most hated intern at Mercy General.

I sighed and shook my head, "Do you realize how dumb you are?"

Of course, Hill blew me off.

"Dumb? I'm far from dumb. In fact, I am without a doubt the most brilliant intern this hospital has seen in years." I rolled my eyes. What an egotistical jerk. "You want to see dumb, though? The dumbest intern of our lot is entering the room right now." Hill told me and of course didn't bother to keep his voice down. "Did you see him at rounds yesterday? Pathetic," He added with a spat.

Teddy had finally entered the room and sent a fear filled glance in the direction of his attending and my own. I'm sure being in a room with Doctor Nond and Cooper at the same time had to be one of my fellow intern's worst nightmares. I watched with pity, as Teddy shuddered, before scampering to a seat in the far back corner of the room.

_Poor guy can't catch a break. _I thought sympathetically.

"Did you go to the pharmacy to fulfill my patient's prescriptions, Jeslaw?" Doctor Cooper barked at Teddy, who jumped so high in his seat, I was afraid he was going to hit his head on the ceiling.

"Y-Yes Doctor C-Cooper," He stuttered, "the pharmacist says we can pick them up in a couple of hours."

Doctor Cooper nodded curtly at my fellow intern, who was dangerously close to hyperventilating, before checking her watch.

"It's a few minutes after two." She informed my attending.

"Of course the cutters would be late." Doctor Nond growled and tapped impatiently at his watch.

"Can we start without them?" Hill asked and drummed his fingers loudly against the desk. "I missed lunch and I'd like to swing by the cafeteria, before I'm forced to trail Doctor Whack Job again."

I nearly groaned. Was he purposely trying to get in trouble?

"Are you referring to Doctor Salamin?" My attending demanded sharply. "Because I have news for you jackass, Doctor Salamin is one of the most prestigious doctors to ever be on staff here at Mercy General."

"That's not saying much." Hill muttered and luckily for him, I was the only one who heard him.

"Sorry we're late." A breathless Melvin stood in the door way.

There was a splotch of blood on his scrubs. Scott was directly behind him and had more than a 'splotch of blood' on his top. From the corner of my eye, I saw Teddy turn a light shade of green.

"Yeah, we got held up in surgery." Scott added, as they entered the room.

"Were you busy performing your one hundredth kill?" Hill asked with a smirk. "Because the centennial one I heard is the most specialist."

This earned him a glare from both surgeons and attendings. I would have glared too, but I was fully concentrated on resisting the urge to smack the jerk across the face.

Scott and Melvin sat next to Teddy, leaving me alone with the most hated man in the entire room. I sighed. That was just my luck.

"Okay peons," Doctor Cooper began and crossed her arms over her chest in an intimidating matter. "Let me cut to the chase. Doctor Nond and I are probably the two worst doctors in the entire hospital to teach you this class. We are cold and impersonal. We get angry easily. We're arrogant and we belittle those under us. Um, what else?" She turned to my attending. "Is that all Jamie?"

"You're forgetting our zero tolerance for stupidity." Doctor Nond reminded her and shifted his ice cold gaze to Hill, who returned it squarely and even had the audacity to wear a cocky smirk on his face.

Gods bless him, he really does have balls. I thought and looked at Hill with a mixture of shock and admiration.

"Thank you Doctor Nond, but anyway, we basically havethe type of bedside manner that your professors in med-school warned you about." Doctor Cooper continued. "The one you're never supposed to have." She added.

"So," Doctor Nond shouted abruptly, making us all jump in our seats, "which one of you spineless monkeys can tell me how you're 'expected' to act like around a patient?" His eyes darted to each one of us interns until they landed on his least favorite. "You," My attending pointed at Hill with a scowl visible on his face, "take it away."

Hill was quiet for a moment and tapped his pen against his desk. Knowing him, he was probably pondering what kind of insult to throw at Doctor Nond.

"So, you basically want me say that I should treat my patients the opposite way you treat yours." Hill finally asked. "That is the answer, right? I'll be considered a good doctor by my patients, if I do the opposite of you."

_Oh gods, I really know Hill way too well._

"Unlike you Doctor Pea Brain, I successfully fail to kill the patients I treat. That is why I am considered the best doctor in this hospital and in the state." Doctor Nond shot right back. I noticed there was a little red color in his face. That was not a good sign for my fellow intern. "You implied that I am a horrible doctor just because I have mediocre bedside manner, but in fact it is you who is a horrible doctor. Not only do you lack good bedside manner, but you also don't possess any skills in medicine. That's a lose-lose combination buddy boy." Wow, Doctor Nond was really tearing Hill a new one. "All you are is just a twenty six year old bastard who is getting kicks out of playing dress up with his daddy's lab coat and uses his elaborate insults to cover up the fact that he isn't intelligent at all. You're hardly a doctor in my eyes Aidan Hill."

There was silence and thick tension in the room, before I heard Melvin mutter from the back,

"Oh snap,"

I risked a glance at Hill, who was surprisingly smirking. What was that ass up to now? I knew if I or anyone else in this hospital had just been on the receiving end of that hate filled mouthful of words, we would either be crying straight-out or running to a supply closet to cry.

"Best doctor in the state?" _Oh God, no. Don't say it Hill, you piece of shit._ "I thought your title was second best Doctor Nond. It's been like that for years after all. You should probably be getting used to it."

My face instantly flushed. Why did Hill have to bring that stupid competition up? For the last few years, my own father has been edging out my attending for the title of 'Best Doctor in the State of California'. I knew Doctor Nond was pissy about it, after all that was why he originally hated me so much. Now, Hill was rubbing it in his face. I wanted to kill him.

"If I were you," Doctor Cooper hissed threateningly and slowly approached Hill's desk, "I would run as fast as I could out of this hospital and never return." Once she stood in front of my fellow intern, who hadn't moved an inch, she slammed both hands on his desk and bellowed, "Get out of here now!"

Hill shook his head and stood up leisurely from his desk.

"Thank God," He said. My fellow intern yawned and stretched, before scooping up his charts, "Now I can get some real work done, instead of listening to this crap." Hill was nearly at the door, when he turned around and looked me in the eye, "Just page me when Nond reduces you to tears for this. I'll be happy to get a chance to screw you later to make you feel better."

My eyeballs nearly came out of my sockets. Hill had gone too far this time.

"You little shi-" I heard Doctor Cooper begin to say, but she was cut off by the sound of bone striking against bone.

It took my attending a total of three seconds to stride up to Hill and punch him right in the face. My fellow intern lay on the ground, moaning, and clutching his nose. Blood had splattered onto his blue scrubs and a little had gotten onto the tiled floor.

"I hope you rot in hell." Doctor Nond spat and I swear he was actually shaking from fury.

"This has to be the best class ever." I heard Scott mutter from the back of the room.

Hill had managed to sit up, despite the fact that the blood that was pouring out from his nose was not showing any signs of slowing down.

"I'll get you suspended for this Nond. Mark my words." Hill growled, before scampering out of the classroom. He reminded me of a puppy dog with his tail in between his legs.

_Asshole._

Even though I wished that Doctor Nond hadn't defended my honor (I can fight my own battles after all), I was kind of glad that he did. Hill deserved exactly what my attending had dealt out to him. I would have cursed at him and maybe gotten in a slap or two, but a nose breaking punch had a more lasting effect. Hill was a bastard who could shake off anything. A broken nose would be a constant reminder.

"So, anyone have any questions on what we've learned so far?" Doctor Cooper asked, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen over us after Hill left. She threw a worried glance at my attending, who was just leaning against the wall and staring blankly straight ahead. I wondered if he was currently planning out Hill's murder in his head.

No one responded to the female attending, instead, the entire room had returned to silence. We were all just waiting for Doctor Nond to explode, throw a desk, cry out, or just do something that showed a single sign that he was still with us.

"Doctor Nond?" I called out in a hesitant voice. I'll admit that I was worried about him. He never stayed quiet for this long.

My voice seemed to snap him out of whatever kind of trance he was in. My attending looked me straight in the eyes with a penetrating gaze that made me feel like I was being x-rayed. We stayed like that for a few moments before Doctor Nond growled in what sounded like frustration and then, without any warning, he fled the room.

"What in Mithros name?" I heard Doctor Cooper mutter after my attending's dramatic exit. "Do you know what's wrong with him Queenscove?"

"No idea," I replied truthfully. I was quite confused myself.

"Do you mind going after him?" She asked me with a sigh. I could tell she was starting to get exasperated from all the drama. "Just check and see if he's okay. I would do it myself, but I unfortunately have stay here and try to teach these scalpel jockeys and scaredy pants at least one thing about having a good bedside manner." She added and rolled her eyes.

"Sure," I said, nodded and then, without looking back, I walked out of the classroom. Once outside, I paused in the hallway and looked it up and down. Doctor Nond could have gone anywhere. How was I supposed to know where he was headed?

"Hey," I called out to an orderly, who was striding down the hallway at a quick pace, "have you seen Doctor Nond?"

"No, but I did hear something about Naxen going on a rampage trying to find Doctor Nond." The orderly told me. "Apparently Doctor Nond broke an intern's nose." The man smiled wistfully. "I wish I was there to see it. It must have been awesome."

_Crap, Hill must have already gone to Doctor Naxen._ I thought and frowned. I then thanked the orderly for his time, before scampering downstairs to the Chief of Medicine's office. I had a bad feeling that my attending was already inside getting reprimanded and possibly fired.

I was right. Well, at least about the reprimanding part.

Doctor Naxen, who was usually a calm and collected man, was bellowing from the top of his lungs. I could hear him clearly fifty feet away from his office.

"This is a hospital damnit, not some WWE special!" My Chief of Medicine shouted, as I approached his office. The door was closed, but I could still hear everything without any trouble. In fact, I was pretty sure that the entire hospital probably could. "Just because you are the best doctor here doesn't give you the right to break other employee's noses! For Mithros sakes man, Doctor Hill could press charges for assault if he wanted to! What were you thinking?"

"How much of a bastard he is." Doctor Nond growled back.

Doctor Naxen sighed.

"That gives you no excuse for what you did to him and you know it."

"Oh yes it does Greg," My attending shot back. "He damn right deserved it."

"I don't care if he deserved it or not, you can't do things like that on hospital grounds to fellow hospital employees. It goes against the hospital's strict code." The Chief of Medicine reminded Doctor Nond. "I'm sorry, but I have to follow the rules. You are suspended a full week without pay."

_Ugh._

"Your suspension takes place immediately and I suggest you leave hospital premises in the next fifteen minutes or I will have security escort you off." Doctor Naxen told my attending.

Doctor Nond replied with a string of profanities, before throwing open the Chief of Medicine's office door. He immediately spotted me, standing there with a look of pure guilt on my face, and growled.

"Princess, how long have you been standing outside?" Doctor Nond asked me with his jaw twitching in self restraint.

"Long enough to hear you get suspended." I replied and lowered my head out of shame. "I'm really sorry that you got suspended because of me Doctor Nond. You really didn't need to punch Hill. I would have punched him just as good off of hospital grounds."

Shockingly, Doctor Nond actually chuckled.

"I would have loved to seen that." He said wistfully, before he turned somber again. "But, I didn't just punch the bastard for you, though I swear that definitely was the biggest reason why. I'm pretty pissed off on how he is treating this entire hospital staff like they are dirt under his feet. He needed to be put in his place and I hope I did that."

I didn't want to be the one to break my attending's spirit and inform him Hill, knowing that it was he who got Doctor Nond suspended, would probably be an even more pompous jackass tomorrow at work. So, I kept quiet and gave him the nod and smile, plus the reassuring lie that my attending needed.

"I think you did Doctor Nond."

"Good," He said with a satisfied look on his face, "Well, I have to get going before Gregster has me 'escorted off the premises'." Doctor Nond scoffed, before continuing. "I'm going to call Cooper tonight and ask her if you can tag along with her for the next week. It will be a good experience for you. A different teaching perspective definitely won't hurt." I nodded solemnly. "As for the rest of the day, I want you to do another thorough sweep on our patients and get Mrs. Rodriguez her CT scan. If you need any help, don't hesitate to page Cooper. I'd rather have you look like an idiot in front of her, than a patient ending up in the morgue because of your incompetence."

"Yes Doctor Nond," I nodded and started feeling sadness creep up on me. Even though, I was kind of happy to get the opportunity to work with the only female attending internist on staff at Mercy General, I would still really miss Doctor Nond. He was my attending, my teacher, and (dare I say it) my current crush.

_Damn, I sound like a teenage girl. _I thought with a scowl.

My thoughts were interrupted when suddenly, my attending ruffled my hair. I looked up at him in shock. Doctor Nond never showed any signs of affection.

"That's a good Greeny," He praised me in a coddling tone and once again I felt like a puppy dog. "Now, be a good little girl and get back to the ICU." Then, he added in more seriously, when I hadn't moved. "Your patients need you doctor."

I brightened up at his last comment and I felt a new surge of energy, despite how crappy the first part of my shift had turned out.

"Yes sir, Doctor Nond," I said with an enthused grin and started scurrying away towards the ICU, "I won't let you down!"

_I swear to all the gods I won't._ I added in my head, as I rounded a corner.

* * *

A/N1: First of all, I apologize for the update taking two months. I had a mild case of writer's block/School and Finals/Track/Graduation. Unfortunately, life gets in the way. I swear that the next few updates will go a lot faster. I do write about twenty pages for each chapter, so that is why my updates take a little longer than most author's. So yeah, I'm sorry!

A/N2: Thank you very much to the following people: studentofwords, Irish Ninja Chick, SabbyRinaBanina, and horsecrazed! You guys are awesome! Thanks! Oh, SabbyRinaBanina- Emma is 26 and Doctor Nond is 33. There is a 7 year difference between them. It is kind of long, but not as bad as Diane and Nummair at least.

Once again thank you to everyone who took time to read this chapter! All reviews are deeply appreciated! Thank you for reading!


	7. Little Victories

**My Own Way**

Chapter 7

_And I'll be awful sometimes_

_Weakened to my knees_

_I'll learn to get by_

_And I'll learn to get by_

_On the little victories_

_And if the world decides to catch up with me_

_It's a little victory._

Matt Nathanson, Little Victories

Disclaimer: I own nothing, not the characters nor the song.

* * *

I hadn't realized how different the hospital would be without my attending.

Doctor Nond had only been gone a day and I noticed almost immediately that people were treating me with a little less respect, especially those of the male gender. I had been called 'sweet cheeks', 'hot stuff', and 'sugar' by a bunch of leering older attendings, patients, and even the guy who rang up the food in the cafeteria. Plus, I now received slaps on my ass by surgeons and a few wolf whistles from the guys down at radiology. I'll admit that I was pretty creeped out from it all and it may have even caused a little bit of nausea. I hadn't realized that people at Mercy General were that disgusting.

Ian Stone had also been taking advantage of my attending's absence. Over the course of the first twelve hours without Doctor Nond, the surgeon had managed to lock me in the deserted morgue (I was forced to page Teddy to release me), knocked all my charts out of my hands, super glued my locker closed, and even tripped me in the hallway. All I know is that it had to be a slow day in surgery. There was no way he had that much free time on his hands to torture me like he did.

Don't get me wrong. Tailing Doctor Cooper was turning out to be a worthwhile experience. She showed me how a woman doctor handled the heavy workload of the hospital and even taught me how to deal with some of those leering patients and fellow co-workers (a simple threat involving the removal of their genitals always worked according to Doctor Cooper).

I guess I just was feeling a bit overwhelmed. I hadn't realized how much sexual harassment Doctor Nond had really been shielding me from and now I was being bombarded by it.

My mom, Aunt Kel, Emiko, and Alanna had warned me about it. They had told me how tough it would be to pursue a career that up until recently was entirely populated by men. I had listened to them, of course. But, when I got to Mercy General my only true problems were Hill and Stone and that's because they were the only two men in the entire hospital who had the balls or were stupid enough to defy Doctor Nond. I got comfortable with my mirage of what a perfect work environment for a woman like me should be. Unfortunately, this mirage was now slowly fading away and reality was setting in.

_Reality sucks. _I thought, as I slipped on my powder blue scrubs top in my empty apartment.

It was the night before Thanksgiving Day and I had volunteered to work a twenty four hour shift starting at eleven P.M. I was one of the few doctors who had no family to return home to for Thanksgiving celebrations, so I was the perfect candidate for what was going to be a hellish shift.

After getting fully dressed, I made my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth and do my hair. For once, all the tiled surfaces in there were crystal clean. I had scrubbed everything down yesterday after I came home from my twelve hour shift. Hill and Teddy had left directly from the hospital to return to their parent's homes for the holiday. So, I had decided to take advantage of their absence and tidy up the apartment for the first time in a while. I hoped that the cleanliness would last at least for a couple of days. I missed my old, spotless apartment that existed in the pre-roommate days.

After finishing up, I returned to the kitchen to pop in two pieces of bread into the toaster that I would be eating for my post dinner snack. While waiting for the white bread to turn golden brown, my eyes scanned my deserted apartment until they landed on my place's current blemish. I winced just thinking about how it got there.

Next to the door leading to Hill's room was a gaping hole in the wall. It was only two days old and it had occurred the night after our disastrous shifts.

Hill had arrived at the apartment forty five minutes later than Teddy and I. I had purposely left without him at the hospital without a ride back, so he had to walk all the way. Of course, the bastard had the audacity to be pissed off at me.

_"You do realize that we live in L.A. and not some magical land where there are no murderers, rapist, and thieves, right?" Hill said angrily, as he burst into our apartment._

_I met his gaze coldly from across the room._

_"Really? I had no idea," I replied sarcastically, putting down my slice of cold pizza that had been leftover in the fridge. I needed my hands free to do battle with Hill. "Well, at least you still made it here safely, though the only person in the world who is happy about that is your mommy. Unfortunately, since she had the pleasure to pass you out of her uterus, she's forced to give a damn about you."_

_"Oh, that's ice cold," said Hill and faked a shiver. "What's up your ass Queenscove that you decided to give me your royal queen bitch treatment?"_

_I stared at him incredulously and then burst out in bitter laughter._

_"You're kidding me, right?" I questioned him with my hands now on my hips and felt my own temper surge. "Or are you really that stupid?"_

_"Oh..." Aidan's voice trailed and recognition dawned on your face. "You're still angry about that?"_

_I was seeing red now._

_"You got my attending suspended and you implied to a bunch of our co-workers that we sleep together!" I bellowed at the top of my lungs. "How would that not piss me off?"_

_Teddy chose that moment to exit the bathroom. A towel was covering the lower half of his body, exposing his string-bean-like upper body. Unfortunately for my fellow intern, he wasn't muscular whatsoever._

_"You've been working out there, eh Jeslaw?" asked Hill tauntingly with a smirk in Teddy's direction. Teddy just stared at him blankly. "Because I can really see the tone and definition of your abs, it's like I'm looking at a body builders in those magazines for men who try to keep it all in the closet."_

_Teddy looked at him with wide eyes and then began to babble,_

_"Are you implying that I'm-"_

_"Yes, yes I am," Hill cut him off with a serious tone._

_"You're avoiding the original subject Hill!" I growled at him. I had had enough of seeing Teddy getting tortured. The poor guy needed a break for once._

_"Fine," Hill said with a sigh. He sounded like a kid who was just told he had to eat his vegetables or there would be no dessert later. "Run along back to your room now junior. Mommy and Daddy are in a little tiffy," Hill sneered at Teddy. "But don't you worry, we'll all still be a happy family in the morning."_

_Teddy remained rooted to the spot and I was wondering if he was trying to muster up the courage to fight back against Hill. I wished he would. It would be amazing to see that insufferable jackass getting put in his place by the meekest intern in the history of Mercy General._

_Unfortunately, this didn't happen._

_"Go! Go! Go!" Hill suddenly shouted, which made Teddy jump and then scamper away to his room. "Kids these days," Hill shook his head, before turning back to face me. _

_I wasted no time jumping back down his throat._

_"You really have a lot of nerve. Who do you think you are for implying that we slept together?" I cried. "Do you know how embarrassing that was for me and how much people are going to talk about it now?"_

_"Implied? I wasn't implying anything," Hill said with an evil smirk. "Queenscove, I don't know if you are suffering from short term memory loss, but we did sleep together. Twice in fact."_

_I knew Teddy was listening through the door._

_"You heard nothing Teddy!" I shouted at him. "You got that? Because if I hear that you repeated this to anyone, your parents are going to have to come down to the morgue to identify your body after I ripped into a million little pieces."_

_Teddy gulped._

_"Y-yes ma'm," he stuttered. "I heard nothing," he added._

_"Good boy," I muttered under my breath and then suddenly it was back into the fighting arena. "You're a filthy bastard Hill," I shouted at the other man, "and if I didn't have to make rent next month, I would throw you out of my apartment on your ass right this second."_

_He scoffed._

_"You would never do that," Hill challenged me. "You enjoy our sympathy sex as much as I do, even if you won't admit it."_

_My eyes narrowed._

_"I enjoy nothing about you, Aidan Hill, especially not the sex," I informed him harshly. "Sleeping with me will never take away the fact that you're insensitive, cocky to the point that you're hazardous to yourself, and, without a doubt, you are the biggest ass I've ever had the misfortune of meeting in my entire life!"_

_"Ouch," Hill muttered, before staring me straight in the eye, "but that doesn't change the fact that you knew all of that about me and yet, you still slept with me," Then he added with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "Twice."_

_"I was drunk the first time, you ass!" I shouted at him. "And the second time you blackmailed me into it!"_

_"You could have said no the second time, but you were insistent about protecting your dirty little secret," My gaze snapped up. Was he really going to drag _that_ into the argument? For his own sake, he better not. "Hit a nerve didn't I?" The nauseating smirk had returned again. I felt like ripping it off his face with my bare hands. "Yes, you had sex with me all because of him and how much did it really help you in the end? Maybe you should have just let me spill the beans. After all, you're no closer to having him now, than you were then." I glared at him with pure loathing. "Stings, doesn't it?' Hill added mockingly._

_"Shut your mouth," I snapped._

_"Someone sounds a little defensive," Hill said in a sing-song voice._

_"Someone is about to have their face smashed in," I shot back darkly._

_He laughed and I felt my insides turn cold. I might have said it before, but it was true. Hill really did have the worst laugh I've ever heard._

_"I love it when you make threats," Hill told me with that damn smirk._

_"What? You don't think I can carry them out?" I questioned him. "Because if I ever did then that smirk would be wiped right off your face, permanently."_

_"Try me," Hill challenged me and looked clearly amused. "Or are you going to call up Doctor Nond to punch me again?" I snarled, which only seemed to make Hill want to egg me on even more. "Little Emma Queenscove, who can never fight her own battles, has to have the big, bad attending finish me off for her like always."_

_That did it for me. A rush of fury overtook me. Not only because he implied I was weak, I came from a family of strong women and that was one of the biggest insults anyone could dish out to me, but what really made my blood pressure rise was that Hill's words had reminded me what he had taken away from me today. He took away my teacher, my life line at the hospital, and Doctor's Nond most recent unofficial title, the man I wanted to have more than a student-teacher relationship with. My attending was suspended and his career was jeopardized on account of this pathetic excuse for a human. I had to get payback for both of us. _

_It took me only a few seconds to decide how I was going to get this 'payback' from Hill. I made quick notes on my surroundings as my Aunt Kel had taught me to do in every fight. I was standing in my kitchen and there were a few dirty glasses and plates on the counter, left there by my piggish roommates, who expected, since I was the woman , to do all the cleaning. _

_I was going to use my surroundings to my advantage._

_Before Hill could even blink, my hands grasped wildly for a plate and I then chucked it at my insufferably roommate. He yelped, before jumping backwards. Unfortunately, the dish landed a foot short, but not before shattering all over the floor._

_"Have you gone insane?" Hill hollered at me._

_I ignored him and picked up another dish. With all the strength I could muster, I hurled it at him. _

_This time, Hill stumbled in his backwards retreat. It did not stop the coffee mug from catching my fellow intern in the stomach, knocking the air out of his lungs in the process, before shattering on the floor. I watched as his momentum took him backwards until he hit the wall. A loud bang resounded before all that I saw was Hill's legs sticking out of a gaping hole in the wall._

_There was silence in the apartment for a moment. Hill just laid there, probably in pure mortification, or maybe he was unconscious. Who knew? And most importantly, who cared?_

_Finally, Teddy stuck his head tentatively out of his bedroom door to check if the coast was clear, before emerging all the way. It took him a second to spot Hill._

_"Is he okay?" he asked me, his eyes wide in fear._

_"Who cares?" I shot back coldly. Hill had really pissed me off this time. I could still hear the words he had said, implying that I was weak, echoing in my head and I didn't like it. "If he's unconscious don't even dare to ask me to drive him to the hospital. I won't do it." _

_"But-"_

_I was already walking to my bedroom._

_"Goodnight Teddy," I said, before slamming my own door behind me._

The popping sound coming from my toaster interrupted my train of thoughts and brought me back to reality. It took me a second to realize that blood was pounding in my skull and my hands were gripping the kitchen counter so tightly that my knuckles were turning a pasty white color.

I took a deep breath to get my emotions in check.

_I can't believe Hill has managed to piss me off even when he's not here. Damn him._ I thought with a scowl.

After buttering my toast so harshly that I left a mess of crumbs on the counter, I was ready to go to work.

The drive to the hospital was short and uneventful, though I did nearly choke to death on the piece of toast I was eating while I was making a sharp left hand turn. Luckily for me, there were hardly any cars on the road at such a late hour, so I didn't have to worry about swerving a little as I hacked up my food.

In my first weeks of being on an intern, I quickly realized this little tidbit about Mercy General. It might be a little creepy looking during the day with its old fashioned fifties architecture, but that didn't compare about how spooky it looked at night. This same tidbit still applied, as I entered the woman's dark and deserted locker room to store my knapsack into my own personal locker.

Maybe it was my overactive imagination, but I swore it was like a scene out of a horror movie. I was the innocent little girl, who was strolling casually into the same room that the murdering psychopath had slipped into moments before. However, this wasn't a movie. There could possibly be a psychopath lurking around the woman's locker room.

_You are acting like a lunatic_, I thought disdainfully towards myself, but I quickly shook that insult off.

It was just like Hill had said two nights before. We were in L.A., not some magical land free of murderers, rapists, and thieves. You could never be too careful.

My racing thoughts made me so paranoid that, before even turning my back to open my locker door, I actually checked each and every one of the shower stalls to make sure there was no knife wielding killers waiting to strike. For the record, there weren't and yeah, I know I was acting a little off my rocker, but better to be insane than dead, right?

After slamming my locker door shut and high tailing it out of there, I made my way towards the nurse's station at the ICU. My patient's charts, along with Doctor Cooper's and Doctor Nond's, were there waiting for me. I had more than a customary full patient load tonight and it was going to be terrible. Plus, I could literally hear Doctor Nond and Doctor Cooper screaming bloody murder at me if I let one of their patients die. I had to be at the top of my game.

Unfortunately, I was not expecting for my current nuisance to be waiting for me at the nurse's station.

Doctor Ibn Alhaz was one of those people at the hospital who decided to reveal their true colors to me in Doctor Nond's absence. He was a fourth year resident, who was born and raised in some foreign country that thought women were second class.

Doctor Ibn Alhaz believed that since I was a woman and a doctor, I was the dirt beneath his feet. He would purposely ridicule me, call me by demeaning names like 'woman', and what was most annoying, he unloaded his patients on me.

What surprised me was that he didn't mind the nursing staff so much. His opinion of them according to Salma was that the nurses were doing trivial work compared to doctors like himself, so they were automatically in a lower class where they belonged.

"Guess who is practically running this place tonight?" Doctor Ibn Alhaz grinned at me tauntingly.

I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Hopefully not you,"

The resident scowled, but it was soon replaced by that same infuriating grin.

"Sorry woman, it's me," he announced proudly. "There are no attendings here tonight and since I am a fourth year, I get the honorary title."

"Congrats, do you want me to throw you a celebration?" I shot back sarcastically and tried my best to ignore him calling me 'woman'. The bastard refused to call me by my name and it pissed me off to no end.

The resident glared at me.

"I need you to cover some of my patients," Doctor Ibn Alhaz said, cutting to the chase.

"I already have more than a full patient load," I argued fiercely. "There is no way that I can take on all of your patients on top of Doctor Nond's and Cooper's. Please, for your own patient's sakes, just chose another day with more doctors at the hospital to be a lazy jackass. Could you do that?"

The resident rubbed his chin thoughtfully, as if he was truly considering my words.

"I don't want to," he said, before taking a stack of charts off the counter of the nurse's station and dumping them into my hands. I staggered a little under the weight, before managing to stand upright. "Have fun woman,"

"My name isn't woman! It's Doctor Queenscove, damnit!" I yelled at his retreating form.

However, Doctor Ibn Alhaz didn't even bother to turn around to acknowledge me. He continued walking straight out of the ICU.

_Bastard._

"I can't believe this," I muttered to myself, as I placed the pile of charts unceremoniously on the countertop of the nurse's station.

I began leafing through them all to see what was wrong with my newest batch of patients, but before I could get too far, I was interrupted.

"That guy is such a jerk."

A voice made my head snap up. A nurse stood behind the counter and was throwing me a sympathetic smile. I noticed right away that she was very pretty. The nurse had wavy, black hair, and long bangs that went straight across her forehead. Her eyes were a green-hazel color and were framed by long eyelashes that must make a lot of the nursing staff envious. All in all, this nurse looked like she should be a model or at least a trophy wife for a rich business man.

"Yeah, he is," I agreed. "He would never pull that stunt if there was an attending here tonight."

"You're Emma Queenscove, right?" the nurse asked me.

"Yep, that's me," I nodded. She must be up on her hospital gossip. It seemed like everyone here knew my name or who my father was. "What's your name?"

"Karoline Conte, but you can just call me KC," the nurse replied.

"Conte?" I repeated, completely flabbergasted.

Roald Conte was the current mayor of L.A. He came from a long line of Conte's who have served as our city's mayor over the last hundred and fifty years. The Conte family had an elite status in this town and according to the gossip magazines, they were rolling in money.

"You thought you were the only celebrity here, didn't you?" KC laughed, when I nodded numbly. "I do have to thank you, though. The limelight and hospital gossip about me has greatly diminished since your arrival."

"No problem... I guess," I muttered. "So, are you the mayor's daughter?"

What I really wanted to ask was why, if she had so much family money, was she here instead of lounging by a pool with a margarita. It didn't make any sense why she would chose a nurse's life over a life of pure comfort and stability.

"Nope, I'm his niece," KC told me and before I could ask another question, she rambled on. "You probably are still curious on why I'm working at Mercy General, instead of taking weekends on my family's yacht, right?"" It was like she had read my mind and all I could do was nod. "Don't worry, it's not rude. Everyone always asks.

"Well, I guess it all came down to me being slightly insane," She grinned, as if to show she was a maniac, "plus that cliché everyone in the medical business falls back on. You know that whole 'desire to help people thing'."

I smiled and before I could a get a word in, she was talking again.

"I'll tell you one thing that I don't tell many people," KC lowered her voice and became more serious. "My family hated the idea of me working here." I felt my eyes widen. That's exactly what I was going through right at this moment! "But, I convinced them eventually how much I love it here and how rewarding this job truly was. They accepted me in the end. Thank God. I don't know what I would do without my crazy family, you know?"

I nodded. I knew too well. I felt the familiar feeling of gloom and a little envy towards KC creep up on me suddenly, but I quickly shook it off. I couldn't let my emotions get the best of me this early in my shift.

"How'd you get stuck on such a crappy shift?" I asked in an attempt to change the subject and get myself in check.

"Oh, I'm not working a twenty four. Thank goodness," the nurse informed me. "I'm out of here at eight in the morning." KC sighed wistfully. "I couldn't imagine missing Thanksgiving with my family. I don't get too many chances during the week to see my nieces and nephews, so tomorrow will be a perfect, stress free day."

"Lucky," I muttered and despite my best efforts, the gloom and envy were back again.

"You're working a twenty four?" she questioned me.

"Yes, unfortunately," I left out the part where I had volunteered to work this shift, since I had no family to eat holiday dinner with.

"Bummer," KC said sympathetically. "Do you want me to help you out with those patients?" She asked brightly. "That sure is a whole lot for one intern. Not that I don't think you couldn't handle it, of course, KC added quickly.

I laughed softly, not offended at all.

"Thanks, that would be really great," I told her.

The night ended up going smoothly. KC was by my side the entire time, helping me with my patients, making jokes about the jerk doctors and surgeons, and we even had coffee together in the cafeteria at 3 A.M.

I knew I was making a new friend. It was hard not to like her. Even though KC was a little chatty, she was really witty and clever, plus we had so much in common with the whole celebrity-like status. It was a good change to talk to someone that could relate to me.

Unfortunately, at 4 A.M. I got a harsh slap in the face.

My pager went off after I checked the vitals on my sleeping patient Mrs. Craig, who had a heart arrhythmia.

The message was short and simple: MVA. Three teenagers. ICU. Need to be stabilized.

I dashed out of Mrs. Craig's room and back to the ICU, where there was a flurry of commotion. Three bloody bodies were being rolled in by EMTs and the few night nurses that were on staff. There was only one other resident in sight.

_Crap._

One nurse shouted at me over all the noise,

"We have one in v-tach. The paddles are already charged doctor."

Someone thrust the paddles into my now sweaty hands as I stood over the bruised and battered form of a teenage girl. She couldn't be any older than sixteen and she was dying before my eyes.

_Get a grip on yourself._ My brain screamed at me.

"Charging at two hundred fifty watts," I announced and swallowed my fear. "Clear!" I shouted over the whine of the heart monitor.

The body thumped up on the bed, but there was no change in the unnaturally fast heart rhythm.

"Raise it to three hundred," I barked at a nurse, who obliged immediately. "Charging at three hundred! Clear!" I shouted again.

No change.

"Come on, come on," I growled. "Give me three hundred and fifty," I demanded. The paddles charged and once more I pressed them to the girls chest. "Clear!" I yelled.

The whining of the heart monitor stopped. The girl's heart had returned to normal rhythm. Relief hit me at once, but it didn't last too long. I had more work to do.

"Okay," I snapped at the two nurses standing next to me, "I want that head wound stitched up, push 100mgs of morphine, and then get her down for a full body CT scan. Check for a head injury, possible concussion. I want the results within the hour."

I moved onto the next bed, where they seemed to be having a little more trouble. This patient was a male, who looked a little older than the first girl. A jagged piece of glass stuck out of his left arm, while his right leg looked like a bomb had ripped through it. I could see it was an open compound fracture from a shard of the femur puncturing his skin.

"The airway is blocked, doctor," a nurse informed me hastily. "We need you to intubate him."

I grabbed a laryngoscope and got to work clearing the airway. A few moments later we had the kid hooked up to a plastic bag, where a nurse was squeezing the air he needed to survive into his lungs.

"He needs a CT scan to look for internal bleeding. He probably broke a few ribs and there is the possibility of a ruptured spleen. Also call an orthopedic consult for that mangled right leg of his, and stitch up that laceration on his arm," I ordered to the nearest nurse, who nodded.

_Two and oh,_ I thought and felt my confidence peak slightly at my little victories, _not bad._

"Doctor Queenscove, I need your assistance over here!" the resident shouted.

Immediately, I realized I had gotten the luck of the draw, patient wise. The resident had gotten the worst of the three car crash victims. The last patient was another girl and she looked horrible.

Unlike the other two patients, this girl wasn't unconscious. She was screaming in agony, but the sound was muffled by the oxygen mask across her face, plus the blood that was frothing in her mouth. She had to be choking on it.

The worst of it all, the part that made me want to vomit right there in the middle of the ICU, was that her legs were only bloody stumps from the knee down. I had never seen anything like it.

"Ejected from the car, no seatbelt," a nurse explained to me quickly with a tone of sadness and pity.

"She's losing too much blood!" the resident shouted at me, but before I could move forward to attempt to stitch her up, the girl's eyes rolled to the back of her head and the heart monitor began to whine.

Her heart had given out.

"She's crashing!" I bellowed and the crash cart was quickly wheeled over to the resident. He placed the pads down on the girl's bloody chest, making me take notice for the first time of the several large pieces of glass that were protruding from her stomach.

I knew right then that there was no way in hell that she was going to live. Her body couldn't take all of this anymore.

"Heather! Heather! Oh my baby!"

_Shit, who let her mother in here?_

A woman, who was dressed only in her night clothes burst into the ICU. She ran for her daughter's bedside, sobbing, but two nurses blocked her way.

"Ma'm, you can't get any closer," one nurse begged, but the mother knocked her out of the way.

"That's my daughter damnit!" she screamed, before two EMTs grabbed her roughly by the arms and dragged her backwards.

"Charging three hundred and fifty," I heard the resident shout over the chaos. "Clear!"

The whining continued and we all knew then that the girl was truly gone.

The resident sighed wearily, flipped off the heart monitor, and put the paddles down in defeat.

"Call it," a nurse said softly while staring at the body. She looked as shocked as I was.

"Time of death, four fifteen," he announced dejectedly, before snapping off his latex gloves and walking away. I quickly realized that he was leaving me with the body and the mother. Damn him.

"Where the hell are you going?" I growled at the resident, but he didn't turn around. He kept on walking.

The EMTs had let the mother go and now she was clinging onto the broken and dead body of her daughter. She was sobbing uncontrollably and didn't even care that she was getting her daughter's blood all over her clothes.

I was the only doctor in the room and I knew I had to do something.

_Damn, I wish Doctor Nond was here right now. He would tell me how to handle something like this._ I thought miserably.

"Ma'm?" I said softly, after approaching her from behind and putting my hand on her shoulder.

"Get off of me!" the mother screeched and knocked my hand away.

"You need to let go now," I told her gently. "Let me take you to a private room."

I knew I was sounding insensitive, but I needed to do something. This had all caused way too much of a scene.

The woman was still sobbing hysterically, as I guided her by the hand away from her daughter's body, which was now being wheeled to the morgue. We rounded a corner until I reached an empty room. I let the girl's mother take a seat. She let out a moan filled with pain, before bursting out into tears again.

"Heather, Heather, Heather," the woman mumbled repeatedly.

"I am so sorry," I began awkwardly. "I can't imagine how you must be feeling right now-"

"No, you don't." Heather's mother snapped. "You don't know anything you stupid bitch!" She howled at me. "Stop harassing me with your fake pity! I don't want it!"

"I'm just trying to make you feel better." I pleaded.

"How can anything or anyone make me feel better at this moment?" the woman snarled. "I just watched my daughter- my own fucking daughter- die before my eyes. How would that make you feel, if you saw the person you love the most die right in front of you?" I stood there, frozen. I had no clue how to respond to that. "Answer me!" She demanded.

"I... I... I honestly don't know."

Heather's mother laughed bitterly.

"Of course you don't," she told me. "So don't you dare try to sympathize with me! Just get out of here! Leave me the hell alone!"

I nodded numbly, before stumbling out of the room. The nausea from earlier was back once again and it took me thirty seconds to find the nearest women's bathroom. I somehow managed to get to the first stall and then unloaded my stomach's contents into the toilet.

I heaved until there was nothing left to come out and, then I just collapsed against the stall's wall and cried. I had never seen so much pain in my entire life. It was too much, almost unbearable.

I must have cried for five minutes straight, before I heard the bathroom's door open.

"Emma?" A hesitant voice called out my name. I recognized that voice at once. It was KC.

"Yeah?" I responded miserably. I wiped under my eyes with the back of my scrubs sleeve before getting up off the floor and exiting the stall.

I immediately spotted KC standing in the doorway. She looked tired and disheveled. Her beautiful black hair was all out of place and her purple scrubs had stains of crimson blood on them. So much had changed since I had met her five hours ago.

"Are you alright?" She asked me. Her bright and bubbly personality was overshadowed by her concern for me and sadness. I had spotted KC there amongst the commotion. She had seen Heather die also.

"No," I admitted. There was silence in the bathroom and then I let out a moan, "She was so young." I gripped a sink for support, as images of a legless Heather and her sobbing mother filled my head. "It wasn't fair!" I suddenly cried out angrily and my right hand slapped the tiled wall twice. "God, it just wasn't fair."

I felt KC grip my shoulder, as I rested my head in a defeated manner against the cool wall.

"This is the worst part of working in this business Emma," she told me solemnly. "Death is always there, lurking, waiting, and it will take anyone, even a girl as young as Heather. You've got to be prepared for that, always vigilant, or it will knock you on your ass every time, just like it's doing to you right now."

I knew KC was right and I was glad for the first time that it was her who was consoling me tonight and not Doctor Nond. As good as it would be to have my attending tell me what to do when all those patients were crashing at once and what to say to Heather's mother, I didn't want to look vulnerable and weak in his eyes. I liked keeping up my strong woman image.

I turned around and without warning, I hugged her. I know I just met her a few hours ago and I usually don't rush these kinds of thing, but we really had connected. We were friends.

"Thank you," I whispered in her ear and then pulled away.

"That's what friends are for," KC said with a small smile that I couldn't help, but to return. Even the nurse knew we were becoming friends. "Now, get yourself straightened up a little, you have patients who need you doctor."

I looked at KC incredulously. A doctor? Me? Was she kidding, because last time I checked I was a measly intern, not even worthy of such a title.

"It is flattering KC, but I'm not really a doctor, yet. Just a lowly intern," I reminded the nurse, as I splashed water all over my face in an attempt to get rid of the tear tracks.

I thought of all these residents who were dumping their work on me. First, Doctor Ibn Alhaz giving me his full patient load and now that resident, who couldn't even bare to talk to Heather's mother and left me to do it. I was a speck of dirt in their eyes and certainly not a doctor.

"Did you not see how you handled those first two car crash patients without any hesitation? Or how you took on all those others doctors patients with relative ease?" KC questioned me. "Emma, you might consider yourself to be an intern, but you've done real doctors work tonight and you're doing it a lot better than most interns I've seen pass through here. You should be very proud of yourself right now. Most interns would have cracked under the pressure the moment they found out they were being saddled with all those extra patients, but you didn't. You're still standing. Barely, I might add," She grinned crookedly at me, "but standing nonetheless."

"Thank god I met you tonight," I said with a small chuckle and felt my confidence return. "You really are the perfect pep talker. Did you know that? I feel like a million bucks now."

KC shrugged.

"I'm well aware," she grinned again and joked, "It's a rumor that I might have given the L.A. Dodger's one of my world famous pep talks last season and that's why they won the World Series. Did you hear about that?"

I laughed.

"Nope, but thanks for giving away their secret weapon," I told her with a mischievous glint in my eyes.

"Wait? Are you an Angels fan?" KC demanded.

"Maybe..." I answered furtively.

"Damn, you angels are sneaky," the nurse said and shook her head in disapproval.

"Kind of like the devil,"

We both laughed.

"We should get back out there." KC told me, once we stopped.

I nodded.

"You're right. Let's get going."

The rest of the night was spent keeping those two teenagers alive. The CT scan showed that the boy's spleen had ruptured just like I guessed, so we had to turf the boy down to surgery to repair it. Unfortunately, his mangled leg would have to wait to be fixed. The surgeons wanted to wait until his body was able to handle the pressure of a second surgery. The first girl on the other hand was still unconscious and I feared that the head injury she had received was more serious than I had originally thought.

Unfortunately, KC left at eight, leaving me alone in the hospital. A short while after that I went to take a quick nap in the on-call room. I needed sleep if I was going to function for the next thirteen hours.

What I didn't expect was to see Doctor Ibn Alhaz resting comfortably on the top bunk. I couldn't believe it. I thought he was probably taking care of paperwork or working on a case-study this entire time, but not sleeping!

I flicked on the lights of the on-call room and slammed the door loudly behind me. I watched the resident jolt upwards and then look around the room in confusion.

"You are absolutely unbelievable!" I growled at him. "Have you really been sleeping here for the last nine hours?"

"Yes," Doctor Ibn Alhaz rubbed his eyes groggily. "Why are you bothering me woman? Don't you have work to do?"

I felt my fists clenched. That was it. I had enough.

"No, you have work to do!" I shouted at him. "You are going to take back your patients and treat them like you are supposed to! I am tired of getting all these extra patients dumped on me just because you are a lazy bastard! So, you either do your job or I'll issue a complaint to Doctor Naxen. You got that,_ man_?"

The resident glared at me, but for once I knew he had nothing to say. I had won this round.

"Just enjoy your little victory while you still can," he snarled at me, before storming from the on-call room.

I smiled to myself, before turning off the lights and crawling under the covers of one of the beds.

That felt good.

Unfortunately, the good feeling only lasted a little while. After sleeping for forty minutes, my pager woke me up. The hematologist had left me a message informing me that Mr. Perel's lab test results were in. Mr. Perel was Doctor Cooper's patient and she suspected that Mr. Perel had leukemia. I just hoped she was wrong.

She wasn't, of course, and now I was stuck telling a patient that he had cancer.

_Freakin fantastic._

"Mr. Perel?" I stood hesitantly in the doorway of his room.

"Hi Doctor Queenscove," Mr. Perel greeted me with a small smile. "Are those my test results?"

"Yes, and I'm afraid you have leukemia Mr. Perel," I told him and watched painfully as the smile evaporated from his face. He looked crushed, defeated. "There are treatment options and if we start you on chemotherapy right away, I really think we can beat this thing."

Mr. Perel pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Can I talk to my wife first?" He asked me.

"Of course," I replied, "I'll check in on you in a little while Mr. Perel."

"Thanks," He mumbled.

I left the room feeling a little pressure slip off my shoulders. The time leading up to telling a patient such horrible news was always the worst part and now that it was over I felt slightly better.

I did my rounds, dropping in on Doctor Nond's and Cooper's patients. I thanked the gods that they were all in stable condition. Unfortunately, the only girl who survived the car accident, Molly Jacobs, was still unconscious and I feared for the worst.

This lead me to page the neurologist on-call, Doctor Lee. He didn't even acknowledge me when he walked into Molly's room. Instead, he checked her vitals and shined a small flash light into her eyes.

"Let me see her chart," the neurologist said brusquely and held out his hand.

Trying not to scowl, I handed it to him and watched him flip through the pages.

"I suspect that she's in a coma," Doctor Lee announced, which confirmed my suspicions. "I would like to check in on her later today to see how she responds to vocal and painful stimuli. If there is no response, I am correct."

"Fine by me," I said.

Without even saying goodbye, the neurologist swept from Molly's private room.

"Jerk," I muttered under my breath.

From there my Thanksgiving Day didn't get much better. Doctor Nond's patient, Mrs. Luke, who had been waiting the last two weeks for a new liver, coded and died. Then, a little boy was brought in with a broken arm and multiple bruises, so I was forced to ask the parents if they had been abusing their child. The father became so irate that I was accusing them of such a thing that he threw the hospital's television remote control at me. I ducked and the remote missed me narrowly, but I was still forced to page security and then child protective services.

Doctor Naxen's secretary didn't help my day much either. She handed me a notice about intern evaluations that would be taking place at the end of this week. The Chief of Medicine wrote a private note on mine informing me that Doctor Cooper would be doing mine in the light of my own attendings suspension. I was disappointed about this, not that I didn't value Doctor Cooper's opinion, but I wanted to really know what Doctor Nond thought of me as a doctor. Now, I would never know.

Doctor Ibn Alhaz was my next problem. I was in the cafeteria and carrying my tray of food back to my table, when the bastard stuck out his leg and tripped me. My dinner and I went flying and I ended up face planting into my spaghetti with red sauce. I was furious and embarrassed, of course. Doctors and nurses alike began laughing and pointed blatantly at the 'clumsy intern'. I ended up running straight out of the cafeteria to seek shelter in the nearest women's bathroom and didn't return to finish my dinner.

The night brought in a drug dealer, who had been shot during a transaction, two people involved in a MVA caused by a drunk driver, an elderly woman with a myocardial infarction, and a little girl who got food poisoning from her Thanksgiving dinner. However, the worst part of my night was news from Doctor Lee that Molly Jacobs was indeed in a coma. She had not responded at all to any of the stimuli.

When eleven o'clock rolled around, I was dead on my feet. I wanted nothing but to go back to my apartment, take a warm bath, eat some leftover pizza, maybe knock back a drink to help me forget my horrible shift, roll into bed, and call it a night.

However, life is always unpredictable and something I didn't see coming at all was waiting for me in the hospital's parking lot.

"How's it goin' Greeny?" Doctor Nond leant casually against the brick exterior wall of Mercy General. He was dressed in his street clothes, a pair of baggy jeans and a long sleeved L.A. Dodgers t-shirt.

I stared at him in complete shock. He was the last person in the entire world I expected to see after my grueling shift.

"Doctor Nond? Why are you here?" I questioned him, pushing aside all pleasantries. "I thought your suspension forbade you from entering the hospital's premises?"

He shrugged like it was no big deal.

"I was just in the neighborhood," Doctor Nond told me. "I decided to check up on things."

I scoffed in disbelief.

"You do realize you could be fired if Doctor Naxen caught you here, right?" I informed him and pushed down my fear at the thought of my attending being fired. It was bad enough surviving the last few days without him, but for the rest of my internship? It was unimaginable.

"Well, well, well, someone's a little pretentious today," Doctor Nond remarked with a scowl. "When did you decide that the carriage wasn't cutting it and you needed to get up on a higher horse princess?"

I rubbed my face wearily with my hands. I really didn't have the time or energy for this.

"Look, Doctor Nond, I just had a pretty hellish shift," I began bluntly, "and all I really want to do right now is go back to my apartment, relax, sleep-"

My attending interrupted me,

"Come have Thanksgiving dinner with me."

I felt my eyes grow wide and I resisted the urge to slap myself in the face to see if I had really fallen asleep in the on-call room. This just seemed like it was one crazy dream. There was no way that Doctor Nond said what I think he said. It seemed impossible.

"Are you dying?" I asked him seriously.

My attending looked at me like I was insane.

"No, you moron," Doctor Nond said with a scowl. "Why would you think that I was dying just because I asked a fellow employee out to dinner?"

"Well, I just assumed since you show a natural disdain for everyone at your job that something had to be horribly wrong with you if you were seriously considering socializing with a co-worker outside of the hospital." I explained.

I was shocked when my attending actually laughed.

"Wow, who knew after seven years of working at this hospital the only person who gets me is an intern I met three months ago?" Doctor Nond said and added in a mutter, "Amazing..."

I felt my face turn red and I was happy that the parking lot was so dimly lighted that my attending couldn't see I was blushing like a school girl.

"Anyway, the reason why I really wanted to take you out to dinner was to reward you, kind of like giving a puppy a bone after they figure out that they shouldn't be peeing in the house." I sighed, of course he would throw in an insult. "Getting away from the puppy metaphor though... I'm betting that you've been having a couple of rough days without me Greeny. It's tough not having someone who has your back in this place, especially as an intern."

"Rough?" I waved him off dismissively. My stubborn side was covering up. I always had a fear of looking vulnerable and weak in front of others and with Doctor Nond it applied doubly. "Nah, everything has been just peachy at Mercy General."

My attending rolled his eyes.

"Oh really? Was it peachy when Doctor Stone locked you in the morgue?"

"How did you-" I began with blood rushing to my face, but I got cut off again.

"Cooper has eyes and ears everywhere," he enlightened me. "So, are you coming or not Queenscove?"

My stomach growled before I could stop it. I cursed Doctor Ibn Alhaz mentally. He had caused me to miss dinner with his childish prank.

"I guess that's your answer." Doctor Nond said with a small smile and before I could protest, he grabbed me by my arm. "Let's get going then,"

My attending owned a black 2005 Jeep Cherokee that looked freshly waxed. Unlike most men I knew (like my cousin and my twin brother), Doctor Nond kept his interior as clean as the outside of his car. There were no fast food bags rolling around on the floor, cds loose on the dashboard, or two week old smelly gym clothes in the backseat. It was spotless.

"So, where are going?" I asked my attending as we pulled out of Mercy General's parking lot. "It's almost eleven thirty. Not that many restaurants are open at this time at night."

"Don't you worry Greeny. I know just the place." Doctor Nond said, while taking a sharp left turn that nearly threw me into his lap. I blushed just thinking about it.

A silence filled the car and I forced myself to ask,

"What have you been to the last three days?"

"Drinking," he replied flatly and then made another sharp turn.

I knew I shouldn't even consider questioning him further, so I just muttered sarcastically,

"Sounds like loads of fun,"

All my attending did was grunt in response.

Finally, we slowed down and pulled into a Boston Market parking lot.

_Classy,_ I thought with a small smirk.

Doctor Nond cut the ignition.

"Is this place up to your high princess standards?" He asked me, before opening the driver side door.

"Of course," I told him, completely ignoring the princess jab.

We both got out of the Jeep and then made our way into the Boston Market. The place was deserted except for the two unlucky employees behind the counter and a bum sitting in a secluded corner booth.

"Why don't you find us a seat and I'll order?" Doctor Nond offered.

"Oh yes, because all the seats are filling up _sooo_ fast," I shot back sarcastically.

"Greeny," he growled as a warning, "stop being a wise ass. I'm actually trying to be nice for once. You've probably been on your feet for at least the last twenty two hours and I bet you really want to sit. Am I right?"

_When are you ever wrong?_ I thought and nodded resignedly before slipping into a booth on the opposite side of the restaurant that the bum was sitting at.

As I wait patiently for my attending at the table, my mind began to drift elsewhere. I wondered what my family was doing at this exact moment.

I could picture all of them- my dad, mom, Emiko, Emmet, Grandpa Baird, Grandma Francesca, Bryon, Kel and Dom- sitting in my family's living room. They were drinking coffee and all of them were laughing merrily. They didn't seem to notice or care that a member of their family was missing. In fact, they were happy that she wasn't there. Things were far less complicated with her gone. Life was bette-

"Greeny?"

Doctor Nond had returned to the table with a large tray of food in his arms. He was struggling slightly with it all.

"Oh geez," I knew I looked flustered, as I leapt out of the booth. "I am so sorry Doctor Nond," I babbled. "Let me help you with that."

My attending waved me off and put the food down on the table top. His dark brown eyes were scrutinizing me as he slipped into the booth. I hoped I hadn't done anything wrong. I hated when he turned on his x-ray vision.

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine, but what about you?" he asked me. "You look like your puppy just got run over by an eighteen wheeler."

I faked laughter.

"Everything is great," I lied and continued when his face still showed suspicion. "Really, it is," Before he could question me further or accuse me of lying, I switched topics. "How much do I owe you by the way?"

"This one's on me Greeny," he told me, though that x-ray look didn't go away.

"Are you sure?" I asked. "Because I'm perfectly capable-"

"Stop arguing for once and feel grateful that you're getting a free meal," my attending said with a tone of finality that made me shut my mouth.

I dug into my Boston Market style Thanksgiving dinner: dry turkey, lumpy mashed potatoes, and a side of assorted vegetables. It wasn't that bad, though nothing like what my Grandma would make.

"So, how was the twenty four?" Doctor Nond asked me, while stabbing at his turkey.

"Horrible," I told him and then went on a long spiel about the hellish shift I just had. I left out a few details, though. I didn't mention crying in the bathroom and KC reassuring me that I everything was going to be okay or how much of a jerk Doctor Ibn Alhaz was to me today. It was best if my attending was left in the dark about that. I didn't want him thinking that I couldn't handle myself.

"Sounds like a tough one," Doctor Nond said. "That's too bad about those teenagers, though. How'd they get in an accident in the first place?"

"The guy was driving and he tried to make a hard left hand turn in front of this semi. They got smashed." I explained. "They had to use the jaws of life on the driver and the girl in a coma. The one who died got ejected from the car and lost both her legs in the process."

My attending shook his head.

"Teen drivers are the worst," he muttered.

I nodded in agreement.

"Was your roommate there today?" My attending asked me and then added with a smirk. "You know, the one I decked."

I smiled and pictured Hill getting his nose broken by Doctor Nond. It was almost as awesome as the first time around.

"Nope, Doctor Jeslaw and he are visiting their families. I was the only intern there tonight." I said, before taking a sip of my soda.

"Did you ever end up punching him off of the hospital premises?" Doctor Nond grinned, referring to the discussion we had right after my attending was suspended.

"Even better," I told him all about our argument that left the hole in my wall. Of course, I didn't include that Hill and I really did sleep together. That would definitely put a damper on our Thanksgiving dinner.

My attending laughed when I was done with my story.

"I don't think I've ever been prouder of you Greeny."

"Thanks, it was probably one of the best moments in my entire life," I admitted.

"Right up there with graduating med-school, right?" Doctor Nond asked with a small smile.

"Yep," I replied brightly and then suddenly a light bulb went off in my head. I had just remembered Doctor Naxen's note from earlier in the day, the one about the intern evaluations. This lead me to ask, "Do you know anything about intern evaluations? Because I got a note today from Doctor Naxen that Doctor Cooper would be doing mine in the light of your suspension,"

"Cooper's stuck evaluating you?" Doctor Nond smirked. "Tough luck for her,"

I scowled, but ignored him.

"Doctor Cooper is great, don't get me wrong, but I really wanted my evaluation from you," I told him frankly. "After all, I tagged around you for the last three months, not her."

Doctor Nond poked at his food.

"Well, I guess I could give you your evaluation right here, but it might ruin your Thanksgiving dinner for you," my attending said.

I stared at him incredulously.

"Am I really that bad?" I demanded to know.

"Greeny get your panties out of a bunch and relax. I was just kidding," he told me. "Sure, you aren't the best intern on the entire planet, but as much as I hate to say it, I can really see the Queenscove genes in you." I grinned widely, which made him grimace. It was fun to annoy him sometimes. "There are things that you can work on though. You are ridiculously book smart, but sometimes you have horrible patient interaction skills."

"Kind of like you," I reminded him.

"Yes, true, but you're a woman. This whole comforting thing should come easier to you," my attending argued.

"Doctor Cooper sucks at it too," I pointed out. "Yesterday a wife of a patient who had just died during surgery reached out to hug her and she faked a page just to get away from her."

"Typical Grace," Doctor Nond muttered. "But, that's not my point, you need to improve. Medicine isn't just about what drugs to give or what procedures to perform, it's about being there for your patient also. I want you to work on your bedside manner. Can you promise me that you will?"

Of course, I nodded and said 'yes'. I would do anything Doctor Nond told me to do. He didn't need to make me promise anything.

"Continuing on the subject of improvement," My attending said after swallowing a forkful of mashed potatoes. "I'll admit that you've really come a long way in stressful medical situations."

"Really? Because today-"

I began to babble excitedly, but Doctor Nond cut me off.

"No talking when I'm about to explain myself princess," he told me sternly, but luckily for me, he didn't go off on one of his usual long winded rants. "As I was saying... when you first started here you were as useful in a code as a chimpanzee with an organ grinder." I grimaced. "You're a lot better now, passable at least."

"Thanks, that really means a lot to me," I said with a small smile.

"Get a grip Greeny," my attending told me while rolling his eyes. "I said you were passable, not that you were the best intern in the entire state with coding patients. There is still room for improvement."

"It still means a lot to me," I muttered under my breath.

Doctor Nond pretended not to hear it.

"All in all you are a passable intern," he continued on. "I would say above average and that's only because you were lucky enough to be partnered with me."

"Of course," I said sarcastically and resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Hey, don't be like that. In all honesty, if I had a gun to my head, I would admit that you were the best intern at Mercy General," my attending told me and my eyes began to widen. "That's not saying much though. The others are all horribly incompetent, especially Mister Cocky McCock." He added, referring to Hill, which made me smile.

"Fine, I accept that from you," I said, barely containing myself. I felt giddy from his carefully masked praise.

"Remember this though," Doctor Nond began in a serious voice that made me look him straight in the eye, "genes can only get you so far in this business. The rest is going to have to come from you. You are going to have to show to me and everyone else how willing you really are to improve. I swear to you Greeny, if you are indeed satisfied with where you are now, you will never be a good doctor. I'd bet my own life on that."

The giddiness disappeared immediately. He was right. He was always right. All of this praise was amazing, but I couldn't let it get to my head. I still had loads to learn.

"So, are you ready to get out of here?" my attending asked me after checking his watch. "It's pretty late and I am sure you have a shift tomorrow."

"Yeah, unfortunately," I yawned, "I was lucky enough to get the graveyard shift. Maybe I should consider getting suspended too." I added teasingly. "I'd be a lot better rested like you are."

"Don't even think about it Greeny," Doctor Nond warned me.

"Geez, you don't even know how to take a joke." I said, as I slid out of the booth.

"Trust me, no pay and being cooped up in your apartment for a week is not fun," he informed me, as we exited the Boston Market.

"Cooped up in your apartment?" I repeated and then yawned again. "What happened to your riveting social life?"

Doctor Nond snorted and started the Jeep's ignition.

"I didn't realize it existed in the first place," my attending muttered.

I laughed.

"If it makes you feel any better, I haven't had one ever since I started working at Mercy General," I admitted.

"Hmm... that's funny," Doctor Nond made a sharp right turn, sending me crashing into his window, "That was right around the same time my social life disappeared also or maybe it was when I married Mimi."

It was the first time Doctor Nond had mentioned his ex-wife willingly and without anyone else bringing up the topic before he did. I couldn't help, but be surprised. Luckily for me, my attending couldn't see my facial expression in the dark.

I yawned again.

"Tired Greeny?"

"Yeah," I muttered sleepily. "I was only able to get forty minutes of sleep in the on-call room this morning. I've basically been up twenty seven straight hours."

"I won't bother you anymore," my attending offered. "Just close your eyes and I'll wake you up when we get there."

I was more than happy to oblige and I snuggled against the car's window.

I was asleep, but I knew from looking at the Jeep's clock that we arrived at Mercy General's parking lot ten minutes later.

"Do you want me to drive you back to your apartment?" Doctor Nond asked me.

I shook my head in an attempt to get rid of some of my sleepiness.

"Nope, I'm good," my attending gave me one of those x-ray looks again. "Honestly!"

"If you get into a car accident Greeny-" he began angrily, but I cut him off for once.

"Doctor Nond, I'll be fine," I said seriously and got out of his car. "Thanks for dinner. It was great."

My attending still looked a little cross about me blowing off his offer to drive me home, but he still said,

"No problem, I actually didn't mind socializing with a co-worker for once. Even though it was an intern."

I rolled my eyes.

"I'll see you in four days Doctor Nond," I told him and waved farewell, before turning to walk towards my Toyota Camry.

"Are you sure you're not too tired?" my attending called after me.

"I'm fine." I repeated, not even bothering to look back at him.

"Bye," I heard him grunt, before the sounds of his Jeep tearing through Mercy General's parking lot echoed through the night.

Maybe today wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

My longest chapter to date! I hope all of you are happy!

Medical terminology (I hope this helps any confused readers):

MVA- Motor Vehicle Accident

Myocardial Infarction- Heart attack

V-tach- Ventricular tachycardia

A/N I know I apologized in the last chapter, but I'll do it again. I am sorry that it took a month and a half to update this. I know I am making excuses, but my computer died and then we got a new computer and it died. So all in all, I've had three computers in the last month and a half. I've also lost all my material for this chapter three times. Am I a happy camper? I think not.

A/N2: Thank you once again to all my wonderful reviewers. I got six for chapter six! You guys are amazing. Thanks to: SabbyRinaBanina, studentofwords, horsecrazed, LadyReaderofBooks, KrisElven, and swimchick17. Oh and to KrisElven... I hope my grammar has improved this chapter. I tried really hard to make the changes you suggested. Thanks for the constructive criticism. I appreciate it.

Once again thank you to everyone who took time to read this chapter! All reviews are deeply appreciated! Thank you for reading!


	8. Eyes Open

**My Own Way**

Chapter 8

_It's hard to argue when  
you won't stop making sense  
But my tongue still misbehaves and it  
keeps digging my own grave with my_

_Hands open, and my eyes open  
I just keep hoping  
That your heart opens_

_Why would I sabotage  
the best thing that I have  
Well, it makes it easier to know  
exactly what I want with my..._

_Hands open and my eyes open  
I just keep hoping  
that your heart opens_

Snow Patrol, Hands Open

Disclaimer: I own nothing once again. Tamora Pierce & Snow Patrol do.

* * *

I was never one for fairytales. Even as a kid I preferred my brother's Thomas the Tank Engine and the Power Ranger cartoons over watching a Disney movie. I never liked how everything fell perfectly into piece at the end of a Disney movie, like how the princess would overcome all of her obstacles and magically ended up with the hot prince of her dreams. It was just absurd. Nobody's life turned out like that. It was impossible.

I know this sounds overly pessimistic coming from a child's point of view, but I would say that I was different than most children. For one thing watching the news broadcast on the television with my grandpa was a daily activity for me. I liked the news reports because they always told it to me straight. They didn't sugar coat it like my parents and other adults used to do when they had to break bad news. The broadcast showed me that no story truly had a happy closing. It always ended with either death, pain, or tears. Nothing ever changed.

I can also thank my parents for giving me my early pessimism, not that it was their fault of course. Let's just say that as a kid I had a knack for eavesdropping. I can still remember overhearing my father telling my mother another horror story that had happened at the hospital. It was nothing a child should hear and I paid for it sometimes at night when I would wake suddenly from a bad dream shaking and sweating, but I'd like to think now looking back at it all that it made me stronger. It made me a better doctor today. I came into this business more prepared.

My pager echoed loudly off the walls of the on-call room pulling me back into consciousness. I moaned loudly and held the tiny black box that basically controlled my life up to eye level to read my new message.

_Greeny, you're needed in 426._

Room 426 was where my current charge Molly Jacobs resided. Molly Jacobs' story was more tragic than most. Molly was only sixteen years old and last week on early Thanksgiving morning she had sustained head injuries from a car accident that had ended the life of her best friend Heather Wallace and broke the leg and a few ribs of her other friend Daniel Faber.

The thing about Molly Jacobs was that she just didn't have 'head injuries'. She had been in a coma these last eight days. Her family was starting to give up hope that she was ever going to open her eyes again and frankly, so was I. As a doctor, I knew that every single day that she remained unconscious it raised the possibility that she would never wake up.

With a sigh that reflected my weariness, I straightened out my wrinkled powder blue scrubs top before exiting the on-call room. It was seven in the morning at Mercy General. Nurses and doctors were starting to spill in to replace those who were on the hellish night shift. I watched with envy as people like my new friend and nurse KC Conte passed me in the hallway looking well rested.

"Good morning!" She called out to me with a wave that was way too energetic and a wide grin that made me visibly cringe.

"Hey, do you have a twelve hour shift today?" I asked her, not breaking stride. When Doctor Nond pages you, you stop for _nothing _unless you wish to die a painful death.

"Yep, I'm done at seven tonight," KC said. "Want to get drinks?"

I grinned and shouted over my shoulder, "It's like we're on the same wave length."

"You know it! I'll see you later girl," I heard her reply before winding the next corner that put room 426 and Doctor Nond in sight.

My attending, Doctor Jamie Nond, was standing outside of Molly Jacobs' room reading a chart with a frown and a look on his face that spelled pure concentration. It was a look that I hadn't seen in a while and I realized how cute it was. I stifled a sigh of longing. I still had a massive crush on my attending. Sue me.

Today was Doctor Nond's second day back to work after being suspended a week and a half ago for punching my roommate and fellow intern Aidan Hill in the nose. I had really missed my attending a lot, despite his constant yelling and put downs. While I did enjoy tailing Doctor Grace Cooper, my week spent with her had really opened my eyes and showed me that this hospital really was a man's world. Doctor Nond had shielded me from all of that up until now, but I was certain that my newest adversary Doctor Ibn Alhaz and Doctor Ian Stone would never let me forget again.

My attending looked up from the chart at the sound of my approaching footsteps.

"Princess," his face light up in a fake grin, "I'm so happy that you finally decided to descend from your tower and grace us common folk with your presence."

"Hello to you too," I muttered, before coming to a halt in front of him.

"Sassy this morning," Doctor Nond observed, "What's wrong? Not enough beauty sleep?"

I was tired with the jabs and cut straight to the point.

"What's the deal with Molly?" I asked him.

My attending sighed sulkily, like a child who had just gotten their favorite toy taken away by their mother for misbehaving.

"Miss Jacobs status changed for this morning," he told me and to my annoyance stopped there.

"Well? Are her vitals down?" I questioned him. Molly Jacobs was my personal responsibility since I had treated her when she came in from the accident. I took every little change seriously and I was in no mood being jerked around by Doctor Nond about it.

"Why don't you see for yourself?" My attending replied evasively and motioned for the closed door that lead to Molly's room.

I threw him a questioning glance at his odd behavior, before turning the handle to let myself in. To my surprise the neurologist, Doctor Lee, was present in the room and so were Molly's parents. However, the biggest shock of them all was that Molly Jacobs was sitting up straight in her bed and totally conscious.

A mixture of relief and anger settled over me. I strode forward and took out my pen light, shining it in her pupils. Everything looked normal. I looked up at the heart monitor and her heart rate was fine. Everything was absolutely perfect like the ending of a Disney movie and it was nothing short of a miracle.

I spun around to face the neurologist.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" I asked curtly and then turned to Molly's family, "If you don't mind," I added with less edge in my voice.

"Of course not," Molly's mother whispered almost in a tone of awe and then turned back to her daughter.

I pulled a curtain around Molly's bed, giving Molly's family the privacy they needed and also giving me an opportunity to add some professionalism by not picking a fight with the neurologist in front of the patient and her family.

"Why didn't you page me that she woke up?" I demanded.

"I paged your attending," he replied simply in a condescending tone that made my fists clench.

"Yes, but _I _admitted her and _I_ treated her. So that makes _me_ her doctor," I argued.

"You're only an intern. He's your superior. Therefore, he gets precedent," Doctor Lee told me tersely. He then checked his pager, as if he was wishing for it to go off just to get away from me.

"Doctor Nond only returned to Mercy General yesterday I've been on Molly Jacob's case since day one. I think I had the right to be paged immediately," I said, barely containing my anger now. "Were you here when she woke up?"

"Yes, I stopped by to check her vitals and see if any of her brain patterns were returning to normal," he informed me, "When I came into the room, she was already out of her coma. I have no idea how long she's been awake."

"How do you not know that? Didn't you ask her?" I snapped at him, my irritation now winning me completely over. I was so caught up that I didn't even pay head to the sound of the door to the patient's room opening behind us.

The neurologist gave me a cold glare and with that his façade of professionalism had dropped completely. I could now see that he had such a tight grip on his chart that his veins were practically popping out of his skin and the way his upper lip was curled into almost a snarl only confirmed how ticked off he really was.

_Uh oh. I'm in deep shit now._

"Look, I've been forced to put up with your whiny little voice all week, but enough is enough. You're forgetting your place Doctor Queenscove because the last time I checked you were still a puny, insignificant intern who has no business in questioning me on how to do my job," Doctor Lee growled at me. He definitely had lost it. "I don't care who your daddy is you stupid little girl. You better keep your mouth shut and respect me or you're going to pay."

The sound of a door closing sharply alerted us that a very irritated looking Doctor Nond had entered the room.

_When did he come in?_ I wondered.

"Maybe she should be questioning you Walter, after all I have been since day one. I always wondered how Greg could hire such a dumbass to head the neurology department here. That's probably why we've been dubbed the worst hospital for neurology in L.A. for the last five years, which is convenient since that's around the same time that you started working here."

Doctor Lee gaped at him and quite frankly, so did I. I didn't know how my attending did that. How he had the skills to completely demolish the self-esteem of a person with only a few words and a soul numbing glare.

"Doctor Nond, you are completely out of order-" the neurologist began, clearly affronted.

"Shut the fuck up and get out of here," my attending snapped, "And if I ever hear you talking to Doctor Queenscove like that again Walter, you'll be answering to me and it sure as hell won't be pretty."

I tried not to gawk as Doctor Lee swept from the room and closed the door with a dramatic bang.

"Jackass," I heard my attending mutter.

_Fantastic, my attending fought yet again another battle for me, _I thought with a scowl and Hill's snarky comments from two weeks ago about how Doctor Nond was always defending me crept back into my head. I felt my fists clench just thinking about it and faced my attending with a rush of fury.

"You know you didn't have to do that," I said tersely with my hands planted firmly on my hips in a 'I'm really pissed' stance' that I've witnessed my parent's friend Alanna Swoop do many times. "I was handling the situation fine without your help. I don't need you to defend my god damn honor all the time!"

My attending rolled his eyes, grabbed me by my upper arm and yanked me outside of the patient's room so we could have our argument away from Molly's family.

"Pull your head out of your ass and stop reading those fantasy novels Greeny, I don't defend your honor," he retorted as soon as the door shut behind us. "This isn't freaking medieval times,"

"Bull shit," I hissed.

I was really fed up this time. I was sick and tired of Doctor Nond rushing in to defend me like I was some delicate little lady in distress. I was twenty six years old and a doctor damnit! I didn't need to be saved every single day by my knight in shining armor. I came from a family of strong women after all. This wasn't how he operated. We didn't have to rely constantly on men to save us from harm. We could save ourselves just fine.

"I know that you decked Hill and Stone all because of my 'honor'. Don't even try wasting any of your breath denying it, " I growled at him. "So tell me this- why the hell do you keep doing it?" I demanded. "Don't you realize that whenever you turn your back or leave this place, they all swarm on me and start pushing me around?"

I grimaced as memories of last week resurfaced in my mind.

"I'm a woman doctor in a hospital that 95 percent of their physicians are males. That's hard enough without you squashing every opportunity I have to show them that I'm tough enough to defend myself," I let out a deep and shaky breath in an attempt to reign in my temper so I could really make my point clear. "If I can be completely honest with you Doctor Nond, I appreciate all that you've done for me. You're a great teacher and a good person, but you're making me look weak and I really don't like you for doing this to me."

Silence.

It really must have been a day for miracles because I had actually managed to render my attending speechless. However, that didn't stop me from shaking my head in disappointment. I was really hoping that he would tell me that he was sorry for once and swear to back off, but I guess he was so rough around the edges that he was incapable of a simple apology.

"Look, I gotta' go see my patient," I said with a sigh, backing away from him before opening the door to Molly's room, "I'll see you later."

"Greeny, before you go there's something you should know about your p-" Doctor Nond began hurriedly, but I had closed the door behind me already.

The room was oddly quiet when I reentered. I pulled back the curtain and an angry looking Molly Jacobs was waiting for me. Her whole body language reflected wariness and she kept a fixed stare at a spot in the corner of the room. I turned around to see what she was looking at and saw that it was her mother. Mrs. Jacobs was standing there sobbing softly into her husband's shoulder, while he just gaped openly at his own daughter in what seemed like horror.

"What's wrong?" I asked Molly's parents as the sensation of dread washed over me.

_What could it be now?_

"She finally spoke," Molly's father whispered in a voice that sounded way too haunting for my liking.

I stared at him in confusion.

"Wait, she wasn't talking before this?" I questioned him and felt that panic rise up in my chest. That wasn't a good sign and Doctor Lee never even bothered to mention this during our little talk, so now I looked like a fool.

_Freakin' bastard._

"Didn't Doctor Lee tell you? She hadn't spoken a word until a minute ago, though I prefer Molly hadn't open her mouth at all. She's upset my wife as you can see," Mr. Jacobs motioned towards his still sobbing wife.

"What did she say?" I asked, glancing over at Molly, who's face was now set in a deep frown.

"She doesn't know who we are or the life she had before the accident," Molly's dad revealed and I felt a heavy weight fall over my shoulders, "Molly doesn't even know her own name."

I felt like I had just had a ton of bricks dumped on my head. This patient's story was supposed to be my personal Disney movie. It was going have a happy ending with the tiny woodland creatures singing a happy little song and a prince carrying his princess on horseback into the sunset and now it had just went to hell with one simple diagnosis.

_Retrograde amnesia. Damn it all._

"I'm afraid that your daughter has retrograde amnesia Mr. Jacobs, but I would like to call a consult from neurology to confirm the diagnosis if you don't mind," I said.

"Will she get her memory back?" Molly's dad asked.

"There's a chance, but I can't make any definite guarantees," I told him. "A doctor from neurology will have a better idea than me. I'll page to request a consult now."

I whipped out my pager and typed a quick message to KC, asking her to find me a doctor from neurology who wasn't Doctor Lee. I had had enough of the head neurologist for one day.

"Okay, a neurologist should be stopping by in a few minutes," I said with a reassuring nod in Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs direction and then turned to Molly. I smiled gently at her. "Molly? I'm Doctor Queenscove and I'm going to be your doctor while you stay here at Mercy General."

"Why does everyone keep calling me Molly?" The girl snarled. "That's not my fucking name! And how old are you anyway? You look like you belong in high school."

I cringed at the use of profanity and I heard Mrs. Jacobs let out a louder sob.

"Can you shut that stupid whore up?" Molly demanded. "All she's done since I've woken up is cry. God, go cry a river somewhere else."

This only made Molly's mother cry more.

"Hey, why don't you do me a favor and calm down a little bit?" I said. "Will you do that for me? Just take a few deep breaths- in and out."

I gave her a demonstration and breathed in deeply a few times myself. I sure needed it.

"How can I calm down when I'm in a hospital bed surrounded by strangers? Go to hell baby doc," Molly growled, before reaching for the 'Get Well Soon' Teddy Bear on her bedside table and throwing it at me.

I ducked and let the poor bear sail to the opposite end of the room.

"Look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way," I said cautiously. "I don't want to be to sedate you, but if you attempt to attack me or any other hospital employee again, I'll be forced to."

Molly just rolled her eyes and muttered,

"Screw you,"

I ignored this and turned back to Mr. Jacobs.

"Not to be rude," I began hesitantly, "but this isn't her normal behavior, right?"

Molly's dad shook his head vigorously.

"No, definitely not, I've never seen her this angry. It's like she's morphed into a totally different person," he said with his eyes never leaving his daughter, "I know my Molly and that's not her. There has to be something wrong. Damage to her brain maybe, I don't know. But I can tell you right now that the person sitting in that bed isn't who I raised my little girl to be."

"Don't worry, I think the excessive anger has to do with her head injuries," I told them and then added, "I know this isn't the Molly you know and love right now, but I'll try my best Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs to bring her back to you," I promised.

"Thank you," Mrs. Jacobs whispered shakily and her husband ran his hand soothingly through her hair.

I gave her a comforting smile and a reassuring pat on the arm.

"Why don't you both go get a cup of coffee?" I suggested. "I need to go through some procedural stuff with Molly that will take a couple of minutes. It would probably be nice to get a little air."

Mrs. Jacobs wiped off the mascara, which had run onto her cheek bones, with the back of her hand.

"That sounds good to me," she said with a small hiccup and then I watched as her husband gently guided her out of Molly's room.

Once the door had closed behind Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs, I turned back to my current predicament. Her arms were crossed over her chest defiantly and she was giving me a death glare with hardened brown eyes. I swallowed any leftover apprehension I had and met the look evenly to show Molly Jacobs that I was not afraid of her.

My patient responded to this challenge with a growl that made me flinch. Alright, I'll admit that I was a little scared of her. The girl was freakin' insane.

"Okay," I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. I needed to take back control. I was the doctor and she was the patient. I had to be in charge of this situation. There was no way in hell that she was going to boss me around while I was trying to treat her. I wouldn't tolerate it and neither would any other doctor, "as I said earlier my name is Doctor Queenscove and before we begin I want to set the record straight. I don't appreciate names like 'baby doc' and I certainly don't want to be labeled by you as a 'girl who still is in high school'."

I cringed, thinking about how Doctor Nond would have a field day with those titles, and then continued on with my little speech.

"I'm twenty six, I live in an apartment without my parents and I've already graduated college and med school. I haven't set foot in a high school in eight years and I haven't lived with my parents in four. I'm definitely not a kid anymore. In fact, to my dismay my younger cousins have recently labeled me as 'one of the old people'. So, all you should be addressing me by is Doctor Queenscove and nothing else. Do you got that?"

There was silence in the room for a few moments as Molly stared up at me. I swore that it seemed like the girl was judging me in her head, trying to figure out if I was someone that couldn't be messed with. To reinforce that image, I asked again, more forcefully,

"Do you understand or not Molly?"

"Whatever," my patient muttered sullenly.

I sighed. That was as good as a response as I was going to get.

I pulled up a chair next to her bedside and took out Molly's chart to record the extent of her memory loss, "So, I'm going to start out by asking you some basic questions. Ready?"

Molly shrugged.

"Fine, one: What's your name?"

"I have no clue, but according to the weeping willow and the old dude," the patient said, referring to her parents, "it's Molly."

"Okay, two: Do you remember anything about your past life?"

"Nope, it's all blank to me. I've got nothing doc."

I let the 'doc' comment slide and continued.

"Do you know what year it is?"

The girl shook her head no.

"Do you know where your present location is?"

Molly looked around.

"Well, I'm going to guess I'm in a hospital considering that you're a doctor and I'm attached to all these stupid beeping machines. Am I right?"

"Yep, you're at Mercy General Hospital Molly," I added a smile as an encouragement, which made my patient roll her eyes. "Do you know what city Mercy General Hospital is in?"

"No clue,"

"No recognition on how you got to be in the hospital in the first place?"

Molly scowled, "I already told you that everything is blank. Why the hell do I need to repeat myself?"

"Look," I began resignedly and resisted the urge to start massaging my temple. I could feel a headache coming on, "I know how annoying these questions are Molly, but they're unfortunately standard procedure that is required by not only the hospital, but the California Health Organiz-"

"Blah, blah, blah," my patient said, rolling her eyes, "Just shut the hell up and get this through your thick skull because I'm not saying it again- I. Don't. Remember. Shit," Molly shouted at me, her temper had won her over once more, "Do you understand that Doctor Queenscove or do you not?" She added mockingly.

I disregarded the profanity and tried to push down the rush of irritation that was now gripping me. God, this girl was such a pain in the ass. I just didn't understand why she was so angry. I had never seen someone lash out at others like this for no apparent reason before. It was honestly mind boggling that a sixteen year old girl could have so much fury pent up inside of her.

"Oh, I understand," I muttered sardonically and then added silently, _That you're a total nutter_. Molly seemed to pick up on my sarcasm and huffed in a put-off matter. I ignored this as I got up from the chair to check the girl's vitals. It wasn't a surprise to me that her BP was high. After all, all she had done so far was scream and shout herself hoarse. It was more than enough to bring anyone's blood pressure through the roof, "Look Molly, you're blood pressure is a little too high for my liking. So, you either are going to have to calm down or I'm going to have to ask a nurse to give you drugs that will do it for you. Do you want that?"

"Maybe if you stopped asking me stupid questions my blood pressure wouldn't be so freakin' high," she retorted.

"Well, _maybe_ if you stopped throwing a temper tantrum like a five year old every time anyone speaks a single word to you, then maybe you would have a normal BP and we wouldn't even be having this conversation," I countered and I mentally kicked myself for being too harsh with the girl. I had admittedly let my own temper slip out a little.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" Molly asked, not meeting my eye and instead staring out the window.

"Nope, I'm your primary doctor and until my consult from neurology shows up and gives you a look-over, I'm not going anywhere," I told her with my arms crossed over my chest.

"Oh joyest of joys," my patient muttered sarcastically and rolled her eyes.

I mimicked her actions by rolling my own eyes, before collapsing back into the chair by her bedside. I really didn't want to be stuck in this room much longer with the devil-girl. Where the heck were KC and that neurologist?

As if KC had heard me, someone knocked on the door.

"Come in," I called and stood up to greet my newest friend, who practically skipped into the room. She was followed in by one of the younger attendings in the neurology department, Doctor Vincent Seajen, who looked alarmed at KC's odd behavior.

"Hi Emma!" The nurse chirped, way too cheerfully for my liking. I barely held back a moan.

KC must be really drugged up on caffeine this morning to be acting like this much like an airhead. I had never seen my friend so perky before. I didn't even think it was possible,

"You won't believe how I snagged this neurologist!" KC cried.

I heard Molly groan in the background. She didn't like 'overly caffeinated KC' either.

"KC," I interrupted and stared at her with concern. "How much coffee did you consume this morning?"

She held up four fingers.

"Four cups in the last hour," KC said proudly.

_Dear god, the girl is acting more like she's wasted from alcohol than being on a caffeine high_, I thought with a groan.

"KC, you're a nurse. You know how bad that much caffeine is for you," I scolded.

"I had a late night," she admitted and then added with a shrug, "I've been worse."

I sighed. I couldn't imagine anything worse than the state KC was right now.

"So, can I continue with my neurologist story?" she asked eagerly. She was practically bouncing up and down in anticipation.

I nodded and resisted the urge to role my eyes, "Go on,"

"So, as I was saying, I caught Doctor Seajen here wandering too close to the nurse's doughnut box." KC began quickly, the words virtually rocketing out of her mouth. Damn, she talked fast when she had a lot of coffee. "Being the strong disciplinary that I am, I forced him as a punishment to come look at our newly awaken coma patient," she didn't even pause to take a breath, when she added, "Isn't that right doctor?"

KC then ended her little explanation by flashing Doctor Seajen a bright smile, which made the poor man blush. Sometimes KC didn't understand that, despite her overall craziness, her good looks had a certain paralyzing affect on the male gender.

I gave the neurologist a reassuring pat on the back.

"Don't worry Doctor Seajen, those doughnuts tempt everyone," I told him teasingly and I really hoped that our happy (well really sugar and caffeine induced) moods would rub off on Molly. Unfortunately, my patient looked more wary than ever. "So, this is Molly Jacobs, age sixteen. She got into a MVA on the 25th of November that left her with injuries to her parietal lobe and she also experienced some ventricular arrhythmia, which was corrected with a defibrillator. She had been in an eight day coma and woke up sometime this morning," when Doctor Seajen gave me an odd look, I added in explanation, "The exact time is not known because Doctor Lee did not give me too many details on when she regained consciousness. She also is experiencing some memory loss."

I heard Molly snort when I used the word 'some' to describe her memory loss. Okay, maybe the word 'some' was a huge understatement. I was positive that the girl had retrograde amnesia. I just needed this guy to confirm it, so I could move on to treatment options.

The next few minutes I watched almost painfully as Doctor Seajen questioned Molly Jacobs in a similar way as I did earlier and I cringed as every response she gave involved her ripping the neurologist a new one. The poor guy never stood a chance against the wrath of my patient.

When Doctor Seajen was finally done, he turned to me.

"Doctor Queenscove, a word please?" he asked me with a pale face.

I glanced over at KC.

"Do you mind watching her for a minute?" I asked the nurse and ignored Molly's shouted protests that she didn't want to be left with 'The crazy lady on crack'.

"Yeah sure, no problem," she said surprisingly in a more subdued matter.

I guess the radical change in KC's behavior came from the fact that the initial caffeine kick was probably starting to wear off. That was a good thing for my friend because Molly was eyeing KC like a pit bull, ready to sink her teeth in her and never let go. Maybe in this less hyper state the nurse could handle her better.

I followed Doctor Seajen out of the room and then pulled the door closed behind me.

"Sorry about that," I said before he could open his mouth, "Don't be too offended by Molly. She acts that way towards everyone, even her parents."

"It's okay, I've been around patients like her before," the neurologist said and I could see some of the color start to return to his whitened face, "This isn't normal for her though… is it?"

"No," I told him and watched with amusement as Doctor Seajen let out a big sigh of relief, "I asked the father that immediately after she started screaming bloody murder at her mom. It's definitely not normal."

"Oh good," the neurologist said, "Well," he flipped open his chart, "I'm sure you must have guessed by now that Miss Jacobs has retrograde amnesia."

I nodded, "I did. I was just uncertain with a treatment plan for Molly."

"Time," Doctor Seajen said simply. "It will take her time to regain the memories she lost. It's a day by day process. Therapy will help too. I would suggest paging a psych consult soon. She needs to talk to someone."

"I feel bad subjecting someone from Psych to that," I joked.

Doctor Seajen smiled, "They knew what was in the job description when they picked their careers. Unfortunately, they have to deal with crazies on a day-to-day basis. I'm sure they're actually used to it by now. Molly Jacobs to them might be like a walk in a park compared to some of their other patients."

"Wow, I give them major props then," I said. "Thanks for all of your help Doctor Seajen."

"Anytime Doctor Queenscove," the neurologist replied, before walking away.

After rescuing KC from Molly, who had somehow gotten hold of more of her get well presents to hurl at my friend because she was 'way too happy for her own damn good', I checked Molly's BP again. Unfortunately, it was still too high for my liking. I ordered from KC some meds to lower my patient's blood pressure and then after my poor nurse friend returned with them a few minutes later, she had to narrowly avoid getting hit in the face with a heart shaped box of chocolates that Molly had thrown at her. For her own personal safety, I let KC return to her business that she was handling before I paged her. She thanked me with more gratefulness than I had ever received in my life, before practically running out of Molly Jacobs' room.

A short while later, Molly's parents returned from their coffee break. I took them outside into the hallway to explain to them their daughter's condition and told them what Doctor Seajen suggested as a treatment- 'time and therapy'. I then instructed them that it would probably be best that they only see Molly when she was unconscious, at least for now. I wanted Molly to be a little less edgy before letting Mrs. Jacobs back into the room. I didn't think the woman could take it if Molly continued to pick her apart in this way. It was too heartbreaking to watch.

Luckily, the meds had kicked in and Molly was already asleep when I went in to check in on her after I finished talking to her parents. So, I spent the last hour of my shift in the doctor's lounge doing discharge summaries. I kept telling myself that I had a lot of paper work to catch up on, but I knew that I was really avoiding having a run in with my attending. I didn't know if my little speech had angered Doctor Nond, but I wasn't about to find out.

The next two days ended up passing in a painful blur for me. Doctor Nond had decided not to unleash his fury on me. Instead, he remained eerily quiet and was acting slightly awkward around me, which I actually found worse. I wanted this frustrating weirdness between us to end.

I hated staying mad at my attending. I liked him too much to, but I also wasn't about to give in. My inherited stubbornness had kicked in full throttle and it was fueled by the fact that I knew that I hadn't wrongfully called him out on all the over-protecting. Sure, if I was the one who was mistaken I would be more likely to give in, but this time I was the right one. There was no way in hell I was caving. If I caved in to Doctor Nond, I knew that I would never be able to earn the respect of my fellow co-workers that I needed in order to survive here.

Molly Jacobs also added to my pain and she was pushing me to a breaking point that I didn't even think was possible. Her unexplainable anger was like an relentless force, leaving everyone in its path ridiculed and damaged. Nurses were screamed at. Orderlies were blasted with profanity. Even family members and friends were reduced to tears. It was a total disaster.

Surprisingly enough, at least to me, I was the only one Molly really tolerated in her room. Well, besides Doctor Nond and that was unwilling toleration. Not even a distraught and emotionally unstable patient could keep my attending from entering a room.

Molly let me change her IV, record her vitals, and rewrap her bandages without demonstrating too much venom. Okay, I really shouldn't stay that. Molly's slight tolerance of me still didn't stop her from breaking out into what I called 'episodes'. They were spurts of sudden anger that usually left me either picked apart by her harsh words or sometimes physical injury. I had a purple bruise on my arm after I shut off the television in an attempt to get Molly's attention yesterday. My patient's response to turning off "Day's of Our Lives" was to throw a small bedside bible at me. I really had to stop leaving heavy stuff in her arms length.

"Hey, you okay?"

KC Conte poked her head inside of the bathroom that I currently occupied (more like hid in) after a disastrous visit to my least favorite patient. Today my friend's hair was pulled back into a sleek pony tail and there was no frizz in sight. I envied her for not looking hellish like I did at the moment.

"How'd you know I was in here?" I questioned in an unnaturally weary voice.

"I haven't seen you since Molly threw her turkey sandwich into your face, so I figured you lost it again and were hiding out in the bathroom," KC reasoned. She stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

"Geez, thanks," I muttered sarcastically and splashed some cold water on my face. It felt good. "I'm not weak you know. I can handle Molly Jacobs. I just needed a little break."

KC nodded and leaned against the wall.

"Don't worry girl. I know. You don't need to shove the tough girl image down my throat. I totally get it," she told me.

I stared up at her, very confused. She thought I was tough? I didn't even think I was too tough.

_And neither does Doctor Nond_, my mind added bitterly and I felt a crushing sensation hit my chest.

_Don't think about it,_ I thought sadly._ He'll come around eventually._

_Really? Because it's been two days and he's made no move to apologize. He must think he's the right one. He must really think you're too weak to handle yourself._

"Do you really think I'm tough?" I asked my friend without try to sound too desperate.

"Emma, trust me if there's anyone around here that's tough, it's you," KC told me with a reassuring smile. "I mean seriously have you ever taken a step back and seen what you have to deal with on a daily basis? You have a teacher whose favorite hobby is yelling at people until they start to cry. Your roommate is a womanizing ass that lives to see you miserable. And don't forget that you have a bunch of bastard co-workers who are supposedly 'doctors', but still give you a load of shit because you're a woman doing a supposedly male job," my friend took a deep breath, "Emma, you've gone toe-to-toe with all of these guys so many times, Doctor Nond included, that people at Mercy General must know by now that you're far from being a pansy."

I wish I could say that I was satisfied with that answer, but unfortunately I still had my doubts.

"Then why does Doctor Nond keep going out of his way to defend me?" I had told KC all about my fight with my attending; though I had yet to bring it up to my friend that I had a massive crush on the older man. I don't even want to imagine all the teasing I was going to get when the time comes to admit this to KC. She was going to be ruthless, "He must realize by now that I can keep this crap storm at bay all by myself,"

My friend's face suddenly light up as if a great revelation had taken place. This look was quickly followed by a mischievous smirk. I cringed. This couldn't be good.

"What's so amusing?" I asked suspiciously and narrowed my eyes at her.

"I have a theory," KC replied mysteriously and now that smirk turned into a full fledged grin.

I stared at her expectantly.

"Well?" I asked impatiently and suddenly felt the blood rush to my face as my mind began to race. Did KC guess that I had feelings for my attending? God, I hoped not yet. This week was stressful enough without KC adding to it. "Let's hear it."

"Wouldn't you like to know?" My friend teased and I felt irritation and anxiety creep up on me further.

"KC-" I growled, but before I could threaten her, my pager went off.

With a small grimace, I unclipped the device from my scrubs pants and held the tiny black box up to eye level to read the short message: _Greeny, E.R. now. _

"Fantastic," I muttered sarcastically. My attending sounded annoyed.

"What's wrong?" KC asked.

"Doctor Nond needs me in the E.R.," I told her sourly and clipped my pager back onto my scrubs pants. "God help me, I can't take anymore of this awkwardness between us."

"I think you should give Doctor Nond a break," my friend announced to my surprise.

"Excuse me?"

"You should forgive him," KC said, this time more firmly.

I laughed, mainly out of shock. The idea was so erroneous to me, it was actually funny.

"KC, you know me. I'm stubborn as a freakin' mule," I reminded her. "I don't forgive people who wrong me. They should be apologizing to me."

My friend shook her head.

"Doctor Nond knows you're strong enough to handle yourself. He has other motives by defending you," KC told me in that mystifying matter again that was driving me crazy, "Trust me,"

"Other motives?" I repeated, flabbergasted, as I made my way towards the bathroom door.

"Yep," KC said resolutely.

"What are you even talking about?" I cried in confusion.

"You'll figure it out eventually Emma," my friend told me and pushed me out the bathroom door forcefully. "Just get going before Doctor Nond has a coronary."

"You're mysteriousness is driving me insane!" I called over my shoulder, as I took off in a trot towards the E.R. I was already running behind since I stayed in the bathroom to talk to KC for a little longer than I should have. But it wasn't my fault. What was with KC and all her evasive answers? She seemed to know something that I didn't and it was driving me nuts.

When I finally got there, the E.R. was jammed packed. However, this didn't stop me from being able to spot a familiar head of dirty blonde hair from across the room. Doctor Nond was at the front desk talking with the admitting nurse and he looked very frustrated. This did not really surprise me. On top of the continuance of our awkwardness, my attending was having a pretty rough day. His liver transplant patient, Mrs. Gordon, had unfortunately died on the operating table this morning. I knew Doctor Nond wouldn't admit it to me, especially in our weird state, but I knew that he was crushed from it.

I sucked in a deep breath and prayed silently that Doctor Nond didn't page me to take out all his frustration and annoyance on me, before making my way towards my attending. I was only half way there, when suddenly there was a pair of hands covering my eyes. It was so unexpected, that I had actually jumped a foot in the air.

"Guess who?" A voice cried so excitedly in my ears that it made me wince.

"Greeny, who the hell is this gu-"

I knew that voice like the back of my hand.

"Emmet?" I replied in disbelief, completely cutting off the annoyed voice of my attending, who I could hear approaching us.

"The one and only,"

I was no longer blinded and instead, I was pulled into a bone crushing hug.

"Can't- breathe-" I managed to gasp out after a few moments of the tight embrace.

"Oops, sorry about that," Emmet said, before releasing me with a wide grin on his face.

"Who are you?" Doctor Nond barked at my brother, before I got a chance to question him myself.

"I'm Emma's twin, Emmet," my brother replied brightly and then stared curiously at my attending. "Who are you?"

"Emmet, this is my boss-" I began, before Doctor Nond could tear him a new one.

"One sec, is he the grumpy guy you were telling me about?" my twin interrupted me.

I sighed and rubbed my temples. I had completely forgotten that I had mentioned Doctor Nond's best qualities to my brother. Mistake. My attending was going to make me pay for that one later.

"Yes, that 'grumpy guy' would be me," Doctor Nond grunted, "and judging by the blank look on your face, I'm going to go ahead and guess you're the surgeon in the family," he added with a nasty smirk that made me cringe. Doctor Nond always had a certain dislike for surgeons and I'm sure Mrs. Gordon's death this morning in surgery didn't help the cause very much."I'm Doctor Nond and I have the pleasure or should I say displeasure of being this monkey's teacher-slash-boss," my attending jerked his thumb towards me.

_Payback is definitely a bitch._

"Lovely," I muttered sarcastically under my breath. Now my twin thought that my boss considered me to be a monkey. Emiko and Bryon were going to get a good laugh out of this once Emmet gets around to telling them.

"Wait," Emmet's attention was now fully on my attending. I was glad he was letting the monkey comment slide. "Is this man _the_ Doctor Nond? As in Dad's rival, Doctor Nond?"

I sighed and suddenly I wished that Emmet had focused more on the monkey insult, instead of realizing my attending's true identity. I glanced between the two men and I could sense the growing friction.

_Perfect. Just what I needed._

"Yes, this is the same Doctor Nond," I admitted.

Surprisingly, my twin burst out into a fit of laughter, which earned him equally fierce glares from Doctor Nond and me.

"Wow, dad and grandpa are going to get a kick out of this," he said with a grin, when he was finally done laughing. "Unless they already know..." Emmet looked thoughtful, before questioning me, "Is this why they still won't talk to you?"

I scowled.

"Dad and grandpa not speaking to me has nothing whatsoever to do with Doctor Nond," I informed him tersely and ignored the anxiety of knowing that my attending was now scrutinizing me. "It's the still the same reason from three months ago. Nothing has changed Emmet. If it does, you'll be the first to know."

"Okay, okay, okay, don't get too touchy," my twin nodded vigorously. He knew I could get into a temper. "But still, I saw this guy last year at the big state dinner. He looked like he wanted to stab dad through the jugular with his dessert fork. He hates our father."

Doctor Nond shrugged, as if he was agreeing with Emmet.

"What's your point?" my attending asked.

"My point is that you must loath Emma as much as you loath my dad," Emmet replied sharply.

_Would this nightmare ever end?_

"Is there a reason why you're here Emmet?" I interrupted him curtly. My relationship with Doctor Nond was rocky enough right now. I didn't need my twin brother sinking our ship forever.

"Yeah, I'm actually here to visit my favorite sister," he said with a big grin in an attempt to appease me. He definitely failed, "Would you mind if I trail you today Emma? I really want to see you work."

"Absolutely not," Doctor Nond snapped before I could reply. "It was bad enough letting the princess in here with her own pony covered spy notebook. I'm not about to have two Queenscove spies under the one roof I conveniently work at."

Emmet glanced over at me with a puzzled expression.

"He thinks I'm dad's spy," I explained shortly and glared up at my attending.

"Ahhh…" My twin said and then raised his eyebrows at Doctor Nond. "Very mature,"

My attending had no response to that and instead, growled, "I've had enough of this family reunion. I suggest that you beat it junior,"

Emmet rolled his eyes and I could tell my brother was starting to get annoyed by the way his face was now set in a deep frown that was usually foreign on his face. Emmet didn't exactly have a temper like me. He was pretty calm, but when he did get angry, it was a grand spectacle.

"No," my twin retorted and I watched with amusement and a touch of fear as a rare expression of surprise formed on my attending's face. This definitely wasn't going to end well.

"Excuse me?" Doctor Nond asked in a dangerously low voice.

"You heard me. I said no." Emmet repeated more firmly this time. "Emma has told me enough about you Doctor Nond that I know that you frequently are a hard ass to spark fear and intimidate some people around here. That's cool, I guess. You've got to keep up an image. I understand. But here's the newsflash: I don't work here, so that means I don't fear you one tiny bit," my twin informed Doctor Nond, who now looked stunned. "Anyway, you're going to do me a favor buddy and drop the pre-teen drama crap so I can spend the day with my twin, who I never get to see anymore because she slaves away for you 24/7. Capiche?"

I'll admit that I was mildly impressed with Emmet's rant. I didn't know he really had it in him. Still though, I knew that my twin was a goner. Nobody, and I mean nobody, got away with talking to Doctor Nond like that and lived to see another day. I might as well start making the funeral arrangements now. Emmet was toast.

However, what happened next almost drove me into a state of shock.

"Fine, you can stay junior," Doctor Nond said gruffly and I felt my eyebrows rise to my hairline. There was no way in hell my attending just agreed to this. I had to be dreaming, "but if I hear the words 'daddy' or 'Queenscove Medical Center' come out of either of your mouths I'm blowing my brains out with the nearest gun. You got that princesses?"

"Yes sir," Emmet said with a mock salute and his usual goofy grin. He wasn't even bothered by Doctor Nond calling him a princess.

My attending turned to me with a scowl on his face.

"What about you Greeny?" he asked. "Do you agree to my terms?"

I'll admit that I was still surprised. I didn't understand where Doctor Nond was coming from by allowing Emmet to stay. It was mind blowing.

"Uh, can I talk to you for a second?" I asked him and glanced over at my twin. "Alone?"

"Make it quick," Doctor Nond grunted and started walking out of the E.R.

"I'll be right back Emmet," I said quickly, not taking my eyes off the older doctor, "Just stay here and don't move!"

"You got it," my brother said and then I dashed off to catch up with my attending.

I spotted Doctor Nond entering a patient's room and I followed closely behind. As soon as I stepped inside, I realized that it was the room of one of the hospital's long term coma patients, Mr. Miller. It made me uneasy to know that we would have complete privacy in here. I needed witnesses if my attending was going to try and kill me.

Doctor Nond faced me with his arms over his chest. He looked irritated and I couldn't help but take a shaky breath as my heartbeat accelerated. How was I both frightened and attracted to this man at the same time?

"Well, what do you want princess?"

"Why are you letting my brother stay?" I asked, mustering enough courage up to swallow down my fear. "You absolutely hate my family."

"It's only for a day and plus," Doctor Nond sighed, "I thought it would make you happy," he confessed and I stared up at him in utter shock. My attending was actually doing something nice for me? It seemed ludicrous.

"Why would you even care if I was happy or not?" I demanded to know.

My attending growled and ran his hand through his hair.

"You know you're one of the most irritating women I've ever met, right?" he asked while glaring fiercely at me. "Look Greeny, I hate all of this emotional crap, but I'll admit that you actually managed to make me feel guilty the other day. I realize now that I did go a little too far in sticking up for you and for that I'm sorry,"

Awe seized me. Doctor Nond was apologizing to me? Could this day get any crazier?

"You were right Greeny. You are perfectly capable of keeping those dirt bags in line without my help. I really don't know what comes over me when I see assholes like Hill and that so called 'doctor' Lee pushing you around," I saw my attending clench his fists, "I feel this- this stupid urge to defend you for some reason. I don't even know why," Doctor Nond sighed, "It just makes me downright sick thinking that I actually want to help out an intern and a Queenscove to boot."

There was a tense silence between us and I stared up at him with my heart in my throat. It was everything I desired to hear come from my attending's mouth and more. I couldn't believe this was happening.

"So, letting Emmet tail us today is basically your form of apologizing?" I reasoned, finally able to find my voice.

Doctor Nond nodded and looked almost pained. I knew this was a big step for him.

Instead of relishing in my victory, I took a deep breath as KC's words from earlier resurfaced in my head and I felt realization crash down upon me. Maybe I needed to take a step too. Maybe I should push aside my stubbornness and pride for one moment and give the thanks to my attending that I knew deep down that he deserved.

"You're quiet Queenscove," Doctor Nond observed, when I still wasn't able to speak. "What's wrong? I thought this is what you wanted to hear?"

"It is," I admitted and paused again.

_Well, here goes nothing_, I thought.

"I'm sorry too Doctor Nond," my attending's eyebrows shot up, "I know you'll hate me for saying this, but beneath all that anger and sarcasm you hide behind, you are really a good person. I was stupid to yell at you when you are the one person that has my back around here," I stared shamefully at my feet, "I really should be thanking you. I hardly know any attendings that would go out of their way to help out an intern so much. I… I think it's sweet."

I knew I was blushing furiously, as my eyes remained glued to the floor, and I prayed that Doctor Nond didn't notice.

"I take back what I said before about you being irritating," my attending said, "Not only are you irritating Greeny, but you are damn right baffling. Where the hell is this all coming from?"

"KC talked some sense into me," I told him.

"You got advice from that crazy freak?" Doctor Nond replied, flabbergasted.

I hid a smile. The first day my attending returned to work after his suspension, I introduced him to my new friend. It quickly became evident that KC and my attending were not going to get along whatsoever. He thought she was way too perky and talkative. She didn't like his gruff attitude and the way he treated me and the other interns. They avoided each other at all costs and when they did have a run in- well, let's just say it wasn't pretty.

"She isn't that bad," I argued. "You should be thanking her that she didn't tell me to do something rash like avoiding you forever."

Doctor Nond snorted.

"You don't have the willpower to avoid me for forever Greeny," my attending pointed out and I felt the butterflies erupt in my stomach.

"Oh really?" I challenged. "I'm pretty stubborn if you haven't noticed. My dad can attest to that."

_Holy crap, are we flirting?_ I wondered.

"My rugged good looks and god-like doctoring skills would easily bring you crawling back to me in a matter of days," Doctor Nond said with a cocky smirk. I felt my pulse quicken and blood rush to my face, "Neal Queenscove has nothing on me."

Before I could respond to that, the door swung open and Emmet stood there with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Dear god, how long does it take you guys to talk?" he demanded and glanced over to my bright red face. Uh oh. There was no way he wasn't going to pick up on that. I was in trouble now. "Look, if you guys wanted to hook-up, you should have told me so I could go get coffee or something to eat from the cafeteria instead of waiting around in the E.R. for you two to stop doing the nasty."

I pinched the bridge of my nose, mainly to hide my embarrassment. He did not just say that.

"Emmet-" I began.

"No excuses sissy," my brother interrupted me with a scowl on his face. I couldn't tell if he was joking around or just plain pissed. "Don't you guys have patients to take care of?"

"Come on Greeny," Doctor Nond growled before stalking out of the room and pushing Emmet roughly out of the way in the process.

"Oh, so he has pet names for you too? This is just too rich," Emmet drawled, as we followed Doctor Nond from a distance to the ICU. I hoped with every fiber of my being that we were too far away for my attending to hear.

"Will you shut up?" I demanded. "I was not hooking-up with my boss Emmet!"

"Yeah, okay," my twin said sarcastically and I sighed out of frustration. "Is this why you won't come back to Queenscove Medical Center? Is he keeping you here?"

Emmet was definitely not joking around. Nope, my brother was _pissed_.

"Don't be dense," I scolded him. "You know my reasons for not working at Queenscove Medical Center. I want to be considered a good doctor without having to ride on dad and grandpa's back to do it."

"Oh, so are you implying that's what I'm doing?" Emmet demanded angrily and I resisted the urge to pound my skull against the wall. This was too much.

My twin stopped suddenly in the middle of the hallway and I was forced to also. I noticed up ahead that my attending had paused too and he looked back at us with an irritated expression.

"Of course not, I would never imply such a thing Emmet," I told him. "We went to med-school together. I already know how brilliant you are. Trust me; you're going to be a great doctor."

"Are you two girls coming or what? I can't delay seeing my patients any longer," Doctor Nond interrupted our argument by calling out from down the hallway.

I had a feeling that Doctor Nond's disruption was Emmet's last straw. My brother's green eyes that were now flashing dangerously with pent up anger was a warning sign that something terrible was about to happen. I braced myself.

"Listen up buddy," my twin snapped back at Doctor Nond and I winced. This wasn't going to end well. "Stop screwing around with my sister. I know whatever this is that you misleadingly created between you two is to only to get back at my dad, you sick son of a bitch. It's not fair to Emma that you're dragging her into your stupid little petty competition, so cut the shit or there will be consequences."

"Emmet!" I cried out, appalled. I knew that brothers had this idea firmly planted in their brains that they were supposed to protect their sisters, but this went too far.

"No Emma! I can see right through him and I'm shocked that you can't!" my twin shouted at me. "I can't believe you! It's bad as it is that he's your boss. I let that go just because you probably had no choice in the matter, but you're sleeping with him too! This is dad's freakin' enemy! He hates our father's guts and you're fooling around with him! Haven't you betrayed the family enough already?"

"Emmet, this isn't what it looks like," I pleaded and felt an overwhelming sensation of guilt and hurt wash down upon me. My twin and I had never gotten into this big of a fight before. It was absolutely heartbreaking.

"I've seen enough Emma to know that it is," he snapped and glared fiercely at me. I shrank back and for the first time in my life I was frightened of my brother. "It will be a miracle if I see you at Christmas. Goodbye,"

"Emmet please! You don't understand!" I yelled, as he turned and started walking away. "You've got it all wrong!"

Emmet ignored me and I watched, devastated, as he disappeared around a corner.

I started tearing up almost immediately and felt a ball of emotion rise up in my throat. I hated myself for it, the weakness, and I knew that I had to get away from here. I just couldn't break down in the middle of the hospital.

"Emma…" I heard Doctor Nond begin, but I spun around and snapped at him,

"Leave it,"

I marched away from him, disregarding his shouts of protest and headed towards the elevator. I smacked the up button with unnecessary forced and tapped my foot as I waited. Finally, the doors sprung open and I quickly got inside. I pressed the '4' button, watched with watery eyes as the doors close behind me and a few moments later, I was on the fourth floor.

Molly Jacobs' room was at the end of a long hallway. I don't know what drew me there. Maybe it was because I knew it would be the last place that anyone in the hospital would look for me. Who knows? But I practically ran to the room and once I had slipped inside, I locked the door behind me.

"What the hell are you doing baby doc?" Molly demanded to know, clearly shocked at my sudden appearance.

I knew I must have looked like I was insane at the moment. My chest was heaving up and down from running, tears had started running down my cheeks and I hadn't noticed, but my pager was going off.

"Can you tell me something?" I began in an eerily quiet voice, ignoring Molly's original question and glared at the younger girl.

The frustration of taking care of the rage filled Molly Jacobs was finally starting to get to me. I couldn't take it anymore. Every single day I had to deal with a fury driven outburst from this girl and I didn't know why. What gave her the right to be so pissed? At least she was surrounded by people who loved her.

_Unlike me…_ I thought despairingly and then felt disgust wash over me.

Holy crap, was I actually jealous of Molly Jacobs? It didn't seem possible, but here I was about to go into a full blown rant at the girl for being an ungrateful little brat.

I clenched my fists as the anger pulsed through me. I would kill to have my family give a damn about me like they used to. A few short hours ago before this whole mess began; I thought that I could still count on Emmet to stick by my side no matter what. He was my best friend. Emmet always understood me, knew how to make me laugh and made me truly happy, but now… I had no clue how we were going to fix this.

All I really knew was that I wasn't ready for this sudden severance from my brother. I needed him. How could he do this to me? How could he leave me all alone? Didn't he love me?

"Why are you so freakin' angry all the time Molly?" I suddenly shouted at my patient, practically green with envy towards her, "I really really want to know. You could've died on the night of your accident, but you're alive and healthy besides the whole memory loss thing. You should be thanking your lucky stars you stupid kid, not yelling at every person that comes in here to try and help you!"

Oh my god, was I screaming at a patient? What the heck was I doing? I could lose my job over this.

Molly's chin actually began to quiver and a few tears leaked out. I was caught completely off guard. Molly was showing an emotion other than anger? Was it even possible?

"I'm scared you fucking dumb ass!" she screamed at me on the top of her lungs, her voice raw with emotion. "You don't know what it's like to wake up one morning and not know who the hell you are! How am I supposed to know if Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs are my real parents? Huh? How am I supposed to know any of these people are my freakin' friends and family? This all could be a big fat lie."

I stared at my patient in complete shock. I would have never guessed in a million years that she was covering up her fear with anger. It suddenly all made sense to me though. The anger was a defense mechanism. She didn't want people to see how vulnerable she actually felt at the moment, so she covered it up.

"It's the truth Molly and the sooner you accept that the sooner you can better," I told her firmly, wiping the tears off my face with the back of my hand. Unfortunately, they still wouldn't stop coming. "I know you're frightened, but you have to take a leap of faith and put some trust in people! Don't you understand that it's the only way you can get through this whole thing unscathed?"

A tense silence enveloped the room and the air was so thick with emotion that it almost was hard for me to breath. Despite both of us being strong and prideful women, tears continued to leak from our eyes. Molly was crying because she had finally owned up to her fears and I was crying because I was mourning the loss of my best friend and twin brother from my life.

"I understand," Molly finally whispered. Her voice was void of sarcasm for once.

I stared at her in disbelief. That was almost too easy.

"You do?"

Molly nodded, "I really do this time Doctor Queenscove. Honestly,"

I gave her a watery smile and I felt my chest swelled up with pride. I had finally done it. I had finally succeeded in connecting on an emotional level with a patient. It was a great feeling.

"Good, I'm glad you do Molly because I want you to know that I'm rooting for you kid; every step of the way," I told her sincerely, "I really do want to see you get better physically and emotionally and that's just not me as a doctor saying those things. It's me as a person,"

"Thanks Doctor Queenscove. I really needed to hear that," she said truthfully with a small smile that I had never seen on her face before. It was amazing to see.

I reached out to pat her reassuringly on the shoulder and then we both fell into silence once more.

I pulled up a chair next to Molly's bed and collapsed into it. All this crying had made me exhausted. I needed a rest.

"You can put the TV on if you want to," I told her, when I noticed that she was staring at me.

"Aren't you going to answer your pager?" Molly asked me. "It's been going off since you got here."

I looked down at the little black box that was light up, meaning that I had a new message. I knew that it was probably from my attending. He was going to be really pissed that I ran off before rounds.

"Yeah… I probably should," I said reluctantly. I wasn't sure if I could handle an angry Doctor Nond at the moment though.

"What's wrong?" Molly asked. "You look like hell and you're blubbering all over the place. You're usually pretty composed Doctor Queenscove."

"Thanks," I said sarcastically and wiped the tears off my face again. "It's nothing though. I'm good."

My patient gave me a look that basically said 'Stop bullshitting me'.

"Really, I'm fine," I insisted.

"Did Doctor Nond do this to you?" Molly demanded to know. "Because I can yell at him if you want."

I laughed. I would love to see that.

"No, it wasn't him. My brother actually," I confessed. "We got into a fight,"

"Brothers," Molly sighed and shook her head. "My little brother Terrence is a pain in the ass."

I stared at her in surprise.

"What?" Molly demanded.

"You actually called Terrence your brother," I said, amazed.

Molly had been wary of her older sister, Amanda, and her younger brother, Terrence, ever since Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs brought them to Mercy General to visit. Just like her parents, Molly didn't believe that Amanda and Terrence were her own flesh and blood.

"So?"

"I just never heard you admit that before," I told her, "You bite Terrence the first time he tried to hug you. Remember?"

Molly smiled fondly. "He was asking for it," she joked, "but really I'm giving this whole 'leap of faith' thing you told me about doc a test run. I figured now if these people weren't my family, they wouldn't be wasting their time by coming to visit me every day. Right?"

I returned the smile and nodded.

I was proud of Molly. She was finally able to comprehend all of this and was actually striving to get better. I was also pleased with myself. I had finally got through to my patient and because of that I felt somewhat accomplished.

Molly turned on the TV and I continued to sit in the chair for the next two hours thinking about my brother and the new mess I had gotten into. I didn't bother checking my pager. The damage had been done and I knew that when Doctor Nond saw me next I would be dead meat.

A few more tears slipped out, while I was thinking about Emmet and the rest of my family that I had alienated, and I was happy that Molly didn't call me out on it. I just never felt this hurt before in my life. Nothing in the world could compare to losing my brother's friendship. It was almost unbearable.

A knock on Molly's door snapped me out of my trance.

"Molly? Molly? This is Nurse Conte," I heard KC call frantically from the other side of the door. "Why did you lock yourself in?"

"Don't worry. Doctor Queenscove is in here with me," Molly shouted back.

I sighed and reluctantly got up from the chair. Here came my next shit storm.

"Emma? Emma, you're in there!" KC cried. "Open this door this instance! You had Doctor Nond and I worried sick!"

I unlocked the door and then opened it up to reveal a livid looking KC.

"KC-" I began pleadingly, but she cut me off immediately.

"What the hell is wrong with you Emma?" the nurse shouted at me. "You never answered any of our pages! We thought something happened to you!"

"I'm fine KC," I growled through clenched teeth. I really didn't want to hear this right now. I had had enough for one day. "And if you'll excuse me," I pushed roughly past my friend, "I need to go ask Teddy to cover for me. I can't stay here any longer. I'm going home."

It seemed I was doing a lot of running away today. Just like how I fled from Doctor Nond this morning, I walked away from KC and headed towards the elevator. On the way down to the ground floor, I sent a quick page to Teddy begging him to cover my patients. I was happy to receive a quick 'yes' reply from my fellow intern and even happier to not run into Doctor Nond as I exited Mercy General.

The drive back to my apartment was thankfully short and uneventful. After I parked my car in the garage and a short elevator ride, I took my keys out of my bag, jammed one in the door and turned the handle to enter my apartment. Hill had had the day off and was lounged out on my couch drinking a beer while watching a football game on TV.

"Queenscove," Hill turned to face me. He was clearly surprised by my sudden appearance. "Why are you back so earlier? I was actually looking forward to having a day that for once was free from having to hear your screechy voice."

"Shove it up your ass Hill," I growled, marched to my room and slammed the door behind me.

I had just stripped off my scrubs top and threw it on the floor angrily, when Hill dared to enter my room.

"What's wrong?" he asked. I watched as his eyes drifted towards my chest. I only had my lavender colored bra on and I knew it was tempting him.

I whistled sharply, which made his head snap up.

"Eyes up here," I said firmly. "And why do you care what's wrong with me? You've never even given two shits about me before."

"Please Emma," Hill scoffed. "I've been the only one who has listened to your problems since you've started working at Mercy General. If I didn't give a damn I wouldn't even bother asking you what's wrong in the first place."

"Liar, you just want to get into my pants," I snapped back and slid open my closet doors. I grabbed one of my sleeping tops, an 'I Heart LA' t-shirt, and pulled it over my head.

Hill shrugged and I noticed a frown had formed on his face. I'm sure that he was unhappy that I decided to cover up. Perv.

"Okay, maybe that's a little true, but hey you're hot, you're intelligent and you have a good personality," my roommate admitted. "What guy wouldn't try to get into your pants?"

I rolled my eyes and tried not to feel too flattered. That was such a typical smooth Hill response.

Hill sighed, "Okay, fine, fine, fine besides the whole desire to get in your pants I really do care about you… a little bit," he said to my astonishment. "So, why don't you 'fess up and tell me what's wrong? Is it Nond again?"

I sighed and sat down on my bed.

"No, but he's somewhat involved," I divulged and then I explained in detail about all that had happened today. To my surprise, Hill listened to the full story without making any rude remarks. I was admittedly impressed.

"Okay, so let me get this straight. Your brother is super pissed and won't talk to you because he mistakenly thought you were sexing up Doctor Nond, when you really weren't?"

I nodded.

Hill responded to this by laughing.

"What's so funny?" I snapped at him.

"Well, it's kind of ironic because you really do want to sex up Nond," Hill reminded me. I scowled at his choice of words. "So, let's just say hypothetically that you do get what you want and your attending reciprocates your feelings. What are you going to tell your family? They clearly don't approve."

I groaned. I never really thought of that.

"I would probably tell them that even though Doctor Nond has some personality flaws," Hill scoffed at this, "he's not that much of a bastard that he would purposely break my heart to get back at my dad," I said.

"How can you be so sure?" Hill pressed. "What if he's covering up his bastard side to lure you in?"

"Look, I know it's hard for you and others who don't spend a lot of time with my attending to understand him, but these last few months I know I've seen sides of Doctor Nond that few have ever seen," I told Hill. "He's got a hard outer shell, but deep down he's a good person. He would never double cross me."

"I hope you're right…" Hill said dubiously.

"I know I'm right," I countered firmly and then silence came over the room.

"Do you want to get drunk?" Hill asked out of the blue.

"Huh? Why would you even ask that?" I demanded to know.

"I still want to get in your pants," Hill admitted, "and I can't get in when you're sober."

"You're unbelievable!" I cried and threw a pillow at him.

"I know," he said with a smirk.

"Get out of here Hill," I growled and pointed at the door.

"Fine…" he muttered and was halfway out when I called out to him with a small sigh,

"Hill?"

He poked his head back into the room with a hopeful look on his face that was truly pathetic.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for listening," I said.

"No problem Queenscove," he replied, "You do realize though that your entire family is made up of pompous jerks, right?"

I scowled.

"They'll come around,"

Hill rolled his eyes.

"I hope so. For your own sake,"

Hill closed the door behind him and I was alone once again. After burying my face in my pillow and screaming loudly to get rid of any leftover frustration that I had had pented up from my day, I flipped over to look at my clock, which read 8:30 P.M. I decided that I might as well catch up on sleep since I was home this early.

Sleep came easy despite the horrible day that I had had. Unfortunately, I was only asleep for at least five hours when I was rudely awoken by my cell phone. I groaned and checked the clock. It was two o'clock in the morning. Who the hell was calling at two A.M.?

I looked at the caller ID and it read: Bryon. Why was my cousin calling this late? Did Emmet tell him about our fight and he wanted to talk about it? That was the only thing I could think of, but why at 2 AM? It made no sense.

"Hello?" I answered groggily and covered up a yawn.

"Emma, I don't know how to say this," Bryan began hurriedly. He sounded tense. That wasn't a good sign, "Your grandpa Baird had a heart attack around midnight. He's stable now, but he's in the ICU at Queenscove Medical Center."

Well, there's the cherry on top of the pile of crap that was my day.

* * *

Okay, that by far was my longest chapter to date (33 pages on word). It took me forever to write this one. I don't know why. I ran into a lot of writer's block with the whole Molly Jacobs situation. I basically had three attempts at this chapter until I finally got it right (I hope so). There's also a lot of drama in this chapter (I felt like I was writing an episode of the OC) and I'm sorry if it's too much. This chapter was basically a set up for bigger things that are going to happen in the next two to three chapters.

Medical terminology (I hope this helps any confused readers):

MVA- Motor Vehicle Accident

A/N I know I apologized in the last chapter and the chapter before, but I'm sorry that this took me really really long to update. College, if you can believe it or not, takes up a lot of my time between classes, sports (I play a D1 sport, so that's even more time), studying and having a social life. I apologize once again. I can't make any promises that my next update will be quick, I don't want to lie to you guys. My 2nd semester starts in three days and I will absorbed in college again. If you guys have faith in me and stick with this story, I swear I will finish it. It should be coming to a close in at least 3 chapters.

A/N2: Thank you once again to all my wonderful reviewers. I got six for chapter six! You guys are amazing. Thanks to: studentofwords, horsecrazed, ConfusedKnight, Smilz101, Kailun, Tishica , short fat bibilophile, addicted2TPierce, .A.F., and xXthenextbookwormXx

Once again thank you to everyone who took time to read this chapter! All reviews are deeply appreciated! Thank you for reading!


	9. Carry Each Other

**My Own Way**

Chapter 9

_Did I disappoint you? _  
_ Or leave a bad taste in your mouth? _  
_ You act like you never had love _  
_ And you want me to go without _  
_ Well it's _

_ Too late _  
_ Tonight _  
_ To drag the past out into the light _  
_ We're one, but we're not the same _  
_ We get to _  
_ Carry each other _  
_ Carry each other _  
_ One _

_ Have you come here for forgiveness? _  
_ Have you come to raise the dead? _  
_ Have you come here to play Jesus? _  
_ To the lepers in your head _

_ Did I ask too much? _  
_ More than a lot. _  
_ You gave me nothing, _  
_ Now it's all I got _  
_ We're one _  
_ But we're not the same _  
_ Well we _  
_ Hurt each other _  
_ Then we do it again _

U2, One

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Tamora Pierce and U2 do.

* * *

When Emmet, Emiko and I were children, our mother tried her best to instill in us some culture from her homeland, Japan. She didn't want us to grow up 'completely westernized' and hoped that by frequently making Japanese dishes like my personal favorite Donburi (rice with salmon), reading off Japanese proverbs before we went to bed and dressing us in kimonos from time to time that we could keep a strong connection to our Japanese blood.

It had worked for a while. Emiko and I would proudly wear our kimonos to sleepovers. Emmet and I often pretended we were samurais when we played in the yard. I had even started learning Japanese from a local tutor.

However, this had all changed when we reached high school. Emiko, the oldest out of us three and also the child that looked most like my mother, experienced it first. Her friends would giggle and mock her for bringing in dried seaweed to school as a snack. Bitchy girls asked her why her eyes were like 'slits'. She was even called a 'Jap' by a group of boys on the basketball team. By the end of her freshmen year, Emiko had stopped wearing her kimono to bed and swore off dried seaweed forever.

Emmet and I had it a lot easier than my older sister did. We mainly had our father's traits and no one knew we were Japanese unless we told them. However, we like Emiko learned quickly how other kids would frown upon us for acting too 'cultured', as if we were trying to one up them by proclaiming ourselves more special just because we were half American-half Japanese. It was ridiculous and demonstrated how ignorant children really are, but it didn't stop Emmet and me from giving into our insecurities. My kimono soon had joined Emiko's in it's permanent spot at the back of the closet.

Even though I ended up hiding from my culture for the rest of my high school years, I never did forget it. Things managed to stick with me like finding myself from time to time repeating Japanese proverbs in my head at times of emotional upheaval. My mother's people are known for their great control over their emotions. Their proverbs reflected this. Most of them were involved with the reigning in of strong feelings.

'Strong feelings' would be a complete understatement to the rush of anxiety that I was experiencing at the current moment. Ten minutes ago my cousin Bryon had called to break the news that my Grandpa Baird had suffered from a heart attack and that he was now recovering at Queenscove Medical Center. Naturally, I wasn't taking it too well.

_Tsuneni satsu taira kyou rei raiku numa,_ I found myself repeating the Japanese proverb in my head over and over to help me reign in my emotions. In English it meant, 'Stay calm like the surface of a lake.' I knew that right now I was more along the lines of the choppy English Channel.

Despite my own personal reassurances, the Japanese proverb, and the cold air blasting out of my car's AC, my sweaty hands still managed stuck to my steering wheel. I knew I should be taking this new bit of news more calmly. I was a doctor after all. I saw my fair share of myocardial infarction patients every day, but this one was personal. This one was my Grandpa Baird.

He was my chess partner during our family's Sunday dinners, the one who taught me how to sail when I was nine and one of my proudest family members when I walked across the stage at my med-school graduation. The thought of my Grandpa Baird being torn away from me without warning sent a shiver of fear up my spine and caused my heart to pound hard against my chest. It was almost unbearable to think about it.

I managed to arrive at Queenscove Medical Center in record time. Admittedly, I broke the speed limit by doing fifty mph in a thirty zone, but no one really needs to know that. I parked my car, fed the meter, and a few minutes later I was walking into the E.R.

The E.R. was pretty empty and I almost scoffed just thinking about how jammed packed Mercy General's always was. They had it _so_ much easier here.

"Can I help you?" the night admitting nurse asked me after looking up from her paper work.

"Hi, I'm Doctor Emma Queenscove," I introduced myself cleverly. I might as well drop my name early if I wanted to see my grandpa right away. "I received a phone call saying that my grandfather, Doctor Baird Queenscove, was admitted earlier tonight."

The nurse (who in my opinion really had no tact) stared at me blatantly with wide eyes. I was quick to forgive her though because I knew I was probably a hot piece of gossip at Queenscove Medical Center. I was Neal Queenscove's 'prodigal daughter'. I was the one who worked at the 'poor' hospital across town.

_Blah, blah, blah give me a break_, I thought, rolling my eyes, in reference of the soap opera-like titles.

The nurse must have noticed the annoyed expression I was now wearing because she quickly became flustered.

"Uh, um, yes," she quickly typed on her keyboard. "One second let me pull up your grandfather's information."

"Thanks," I said and then I took the time to look around at the E.R.'s waiting room while the nurse was busy with her computer. I hadn't been here in months and quite frankly it was strange. It was like the feeling of returning home after being away at college for a semester. Everything seemed familiar, but somehow it was still different.

As my eyes scanned over the stainless waiting room furniture and wooden floors, it wasn't too hard to realize that I had been spoiled here.

"He's stable and out of the ICU, which is a good thing," the nurse informed me with a small smile, breaking into my thoughts. "They gave him a private room on the fourth floor, room 422."

I nodded and thanked her, before making my way for the elevator. My nerves were now starting to catch up on me and they weren't just because of my Grandpa Baird's current condition. I was concerned that one or more of my family members were going to be in the hospital room, particularly my father. I hadn't spoken to him in a long time and I had no clue what would be the right thing to say to him in this current situation.

How was I supposed to initiate a conversation with him about my grandpa? Should I say something along the lines of, 'Bummer about your dad's heart giving out'?

Nope, that wouldn't sound quite right.

I shook my head and mentally slapped myself, as I walked towards my Grandpa's hospital room. I shouldn't be worrying about what I should be saying to my dad. My Grandpa nearly died. That by far should be my main concern.

Still, I couldn't help the fear that crept on me as I stared the door to Room 422 in the face. Emmet had already hurt me so much yesterday. I don't know if I could handle being yelled at by another person I loved.

_You can do this. You can do this. You can do this._

This silent mantra kept repeating itself in my head and I drew in a deep breath, before mustering enough courage up to turn the door handle. Surprisingly, the room was empty. No visitors, nurses or doctors. My Grandpa was the only occupant. I managed to breathe a sigh of relief.

He lay in a bed with a mess of wires and tubes connected to him; keeping him tethered to life. My Grandpa looked pretty pale and I swore if I didn't see his chest moving up and down I would have sworn he was dead.

"Hi Grandpa," I whispered and approached his bedside slowly, careful to not make too much noise. I didn't want to wake him up.

I immediately grabbed hold of his wrinkled hand that lay limply next to him like a lifeline. I needed something to feel to keep me aware of where I was and that this wasn't some crazy nightmare I couldn't just wake up from. Unfortunately, this was very real.

I stood there in silence for a few minutes, trying my best to grasp the situation that I had been unexpectedly thrown into. Why was this all happening? And why to my Grandpa Baird who had spent the majority of his life helping others? He didn't deserve to be stricken like this. It wasn't fair.

Then, without any warning, tears prickled at the corners of my eyes. I wasn't used to seeing my Grandpa look so weak. He was always my family's rock, our voice of reason when things became unpredictable. He had lived a life that helped him gain a massive amount of wisdom. I didn't want him to die.

_Beep. Beep. Beep. BeepBeepBeepBeep._

My ears perked up at the sound of the heart monitor beeping erratically. My grandpa's blood pressure had suddenly started shooting through the roof. He was already up to 170, definitely in v-tach.

_Why do these things happen while I'm here?_ I thought miserably. This was definitely going to bring my dad and possibly Emmet running. Cringing, I waited a few seconds to see if either one of them were going to burst into the room, but when they surprisingly didn't I decided right then and there that I had to personally do something quickly or my Grandpa Baird was going to die.

I could hear the scrambling of footsteps outside and I hoped it was the nurses. They should have been alerted to the situation by now.

"I need a crash cart in here," I shouted and snapped on a pair of latex gloves that were in a box next to my Grandpa's nightstand, while I waited for the nurses to roll in the crash cart.

Finally, three nurses entered the room, thankfully with the crash cart. They looked at me with obvious confusion.

"Who the hell are you?" one of the older looking nurses snapped at me, clearly suspicious.

"Doctor Emma Queenscove," I replied quickly. I didn't have time to go into any details about the degree in medicine I held or where my current hospital of employment was. It was going to have to wait for later, "My Grandpa is in v-tach and I need to defib him-"

"Look eager beaver, you're not a doctor at this hospital and you're definitely not authorized to run a code blue here, so I suggest you back away from Doctor Queenscove this instance," the same nurse informed me gruffly, while the two younger nurses gawked at me similarly to how the lady at the admitting desk had.

I growled out of frustration. I didn't have time for this.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm the only doctor here! No one else in this hospital is stepping up to the plate to save Doctor Baird's life except me," I shouted angrily over the shrieking heart monitors. My Grandpa's heart rate was now approaching 190, "So, you can either give me the defibrillator right now or be responsible for your former Chief of Medicine's death. Your choice,"

Even though I gave the nurse an ultimatum, I knew in my head that it really wasn't a choice. If she refused to give me the defibrillator, I wouldn't even hesitate to wrestle it away from her. This wasn't a time for rules and regulations. My Grandpa's life was on the line.

To my relief, the nurse sighed in defeat.

"Give her the crash cart Carol and Jackie, you bag him," she barked orders at the two younger nurses and then turned back to me with a menacing look in her eyes, "You better not screw this up kid,"

"I won't," I shot back, trying my best to be confident. I didn't even want to think of the consequences if my Grandpa Baird didn't survive this.

I watched impatiently as the defibrillator pads were placed on my Grandpa's chest by one of nurses, while Jackie pumped air furiously into his lungs with an ambu bag. The older nurse charged the actual defibrillator up for me and thrust the paddles into my hands.

"Charged at 250 watts," I shouted to the room over the whine of the heart monitor and let Jackie take a step back from the bed so she wouldn't get electrocuted, "Clear!"

_Still in v-tach damnit. C'mon._

Jackie went back to work with bagging my Grandpa Baird, while the older nurse cranked up the voltage.

"Come on, come on," I muttered hurriedly, while my stomach was doing flip-flops.

"Charged at three hundred," the older nurse told me.

"Charged at three hundred," I repeated loudly, let Jackie take a step back and then yelled, "Clear!"

Immediately, the whining stopped and I watched with a great wave of relief and satisfaction as my grandpa's heart fell back into normal rhythm. I had done it. I had saved my Grandpa's life.

"Sweet Mithros, in all my days," the older nurse muttered and wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand.

"Not bad, right?" I asked cheekily to cover up the fact that I was nearly shaking from a mixture of fear and adrenaline.

"What the heck is going on in here?"

_Shit._

I didn't even have to turn around to know who it was.

"Doctor Queenscove, your father went into v-tach-" the nurse, Jackie, began to report but my own father cut her off.

"I know. I was in my office talking to my wife on the phone, when I was paged. That's why I couldn't make it down here fast enough," my father said, his voice strained from stress. I knew that he probably wasn't taking my Grandpa's heart attack too well, "Who ran the code though? I see no doctor-"

The older nurse, who I realized I hadn't gotten her name yet, looked pointedly at me. Her eyes showed her disapproval of my cowardice. I knew I had to speak up, so I swallowed down my fear and faced my father.

"It was me," I announced with a voice that I hoped wasn't too shaky.

"Emma?" My dad didn't even bother to hide the surprise on his face, "What are you doing here?"

"Visiting Grandpa," I told him and added in a clipped tone, "Why else would I be here?"

"Who told you he was in the hospital?" my father ignored my snarky remark and continued on with his questioning.

"Bryon," I answered and then motioned to my unconscious Grandpa, "When were you planning on telling me about this anyway? In a few days? A month or two from now? Never?" My fists clenched up from anger that I could no longer contain, "I had to hear news about my own grandfather from someone not even in my immediate family for god sake! He could have freakin' died and no one in our family would have probably told me for days!"

I knew I had just embarrassed him in front of these nurses. I knew I had just essentially unveiled our family troubles to every employee at Queenscove Medical Center. I also knew that because of all this, I was in deep shit.

"Emma Midori Queenscove,"

Ever the dramatic, my dad used my full name, including my middle name 'Midori', which had been my grandmother's name on my mother's side of the family. When I had my middle name used as a kid, it usually meant the worst was coming- no television for a week, no sweets, or being sent to bed before nine. As an adult, I was expecting more along the lines of raised voices and hurtful words.

"Have you lost your mind?" my father asked me in an incredulous tone. "Who do you think you are that you can come into _my _hospital and give orders to _my_ nurses? You don't even work here Emma! You forfeited that opportunity when you chose to do your internship at that-that crap shack across town."

"Excuse me?" I cried out, taking personal offense to Mercy General being called a 'crap shack'. Mercy General might not be the best or most modern hospital in the state, but it was still _my_ hospital. I wasn't going to stand for anyone, especially my dad, to insult it. "We save more lives at Mercy General every day than you probably do every week!"

My dad scoffed at this, which had me seeing red, "I suppose this is the kind of bull that Jamie Nond is feeding you, right?" Emmet must have already managed to squeal to my dad about Doctor Nond being my assigned attending. He was _so_ dead. "I should have never let you take that internship. He's a mean and bitter man Emma, who is probably ruining you as a doctor to get back at me for beating him in those damn competitions."

"Ruined? I'm far from ruined," I growled at him. "Uncle Dom is right; you are a Meat Head. You always think you know everything about everything. Well, you don't know squat about my attending. Doctor Nond is a great teacher and a great doctor. He might act like he's rough around the edges, but deep down he really is a good man."

"Yeah, he's such a good man, so gracious and mature," my father said, his voice dripping in the sarcasm that he was so famous for. "I've seen three years olds behave better than he did at the last 'Best Doctor in the State' dinner."

"You should talk. You're not Mr. Perfect Personality either. You can act like such a stubborn, know it all sometimes, that it drives people up a wall," I countered. "And Doctor Nond has every right to be bitter after his ex-wife screwed him over so badly. You wouldn't be vomiting rainbows either if that evil woman did to you half the things she did to my attending."

I knew this fight was starting to get too deep on a personal level. We needed to end it soon or risk burning any of the bridges that were still left standing.

"Emma Midori, I really thought your mother and I raised you better than this. I'm your father and you should be treating me with respect," my dad said to me sternly as if I was five years old again and I couldn't help but roll my eyes, "Instead of yelling at me like a buffoon, you should be thanking your lucky stars that I haven't thrown you out of my hospital for running a code blue while not even working here. If it had been any other patient, we could have been sued for every penny that we own! And what's even worse is that you're an intern training at one of the worst hospitals in the state. God knows what they actually taught you there. You could have killed your grandfather!"

"But sir, she ran a damn good code for an intern," the older nurse protested on my behalf. I had almost forgotten that the three nurses who had helped me run the code were still present, "Better than I've seen from most interns around here,"

"This isn't any of your business Maggie," my dad snapped at the nurse. "And I don't care if she found the cure for god damn cancer! By running this code in a hospital she's not evening working at, she's probably broken dozens of rules set down by the medical governing board of California. She could have her license revoked or even her internship terminated. Hell, I bet you she could even be arrested!"

"She saved a life though," Maggie continued firmly. "And not just any life by your standards Doctor Queenscove, she saved your father's life and I know if I was this girl's parent I would be pretty damn proud of her right now."

My father breathed in deeply and then exhaled noisily. I then watched him rub his face vigorously with his hands in a possible attempt to rid him of some of his fatigue. I knew he felt cornered and he was just stalling until he could make up his mind on what to say to me. Was he going to apologize this time? Or would his stubborn side win out once more?

"Just go home Emma," he said to me without meeting my eyes. The anger had completely left his voice and all that was left was frustration. Frustration at me? Frustration at himself for not being able to say the words 'I'm sorry'? I probably would never know, "I'll tell your grandfather that you came to visit when he wakes up."

"Fine," I said icily in an attempt to hide my disappointment that we once again failed to patch things up. It seemed that these days we were always falling two steps back without taking one forward. I wondered if I should start considering my current rocky relationship with my dad as a permanent one.

I patted the top of my Grandpa's head, which was a full head of wispy grey hair that had once been a dark shade of red, as my goodbye to him and then gave one last meaningful look back at the nurses who helped me run the code; hopefully it showed how grateful I was for their help, before striding quickly and forcefully out of my Grandpa's hospital room. I was almost at the elevator, when a voice made me stop dead in my tracks.

"Emma?"

_I can't seem to catch a break, can I?_ I thought and couldn't believe that the day had finally come that I was actually upset and felt threatened by Emmet's mere presence.

It seemed like only yesterday that my twin, my cousin and I were playing our favorite game 'Knights' in the backyard. Well, I should really say Bryon and I were the knights. Emmet pretended that he was the wizard concocting spells to use against the fighter with the advantage in the battle to make it more even. My twin insisted that he was doing it in the name of fairness, but basically, it was his excuse so he didn't have to get hit with a wooden sword.

To my family's amusement, my brother was a giant pansy when he was a kid. The word 'threat' and 'Emmet' were never included in the same sentence by people who knew him well. In fact, my twin was always cautious, never wanting to harm anyone, and he was also very self-conscious.

The Emmet that I knew now was none of those things. The Emmet that I knew now was capable of yelling at me in the middle of the hospital that I was interning at and embarrassing me in front of my co-workers. The Emmet I knew now talked to my father behind my back and told him secrets about my attending without my permission. The Emmet that I knew now also probably wouldn't be afraid to whack me with a wooden sword.

I wondered how I could have possibly missed this metamorphosis in my twin.

"What Emmet? What could you possibly want from me now?" I turned around to snap at my brother, who was dressed in green scrubs, meaning that he was on shift. The argument we had yesterday was still very fresh on my mind, despite the events with my Grandpa that had transpired over the last few hours. I'll admit that I was feeling pretty hurt from it.

"Tell me the truth Emma. Are you really sleeping with Nond?" he asked me with an unnaturally serious expression on his face. He looked troubled.

Blood instantly rushed to my cheeks and I could feel the fury that I held back in my argument with my dad, break out in full force. I shouted at him,

"No, you dense idiot! Why does everyone in this family take every little thing I do or say and spin it way out of proportion? First of all, I'm working at Mercy General, not because I don't love you guys, but to become a doctor on my own terms. Secondly, Doctor Nond is just my boss; nothing more. We're not hooking up, dating or booty calling each other. And furthermore on the topic of my attending, he might be a complete ass, but he hasn't manipulated me into hating dad and contrary to everyone else's belief, he's not screwing my career up. He's a good teacher and he's been far better to me these last few months than you guys have been," I saw Emmet open his mouth to speak, but I plowed right on, "And when I say 'he's been better to me' in no shape or form does that mean we have hot steamy sex every night in the on-call room, so get that idea out of your head this instance Emmet Baird Queenscove." I sighed wearily, "Look, I love you guys. I really do, but you need to stop taking personal offense to every little decision I make in my life. It's driving me up a freakin' wall and it's driving us all further apart."

Emmet stared at me blankly. I don't think he was expecting me to give him such a mouthful.

"I've got to go though. It's three thirty in the morning and I have a shift starting at eight," I told my twin. "I'll see you later Emmet."

I turned to go, but Emmet grabbed my arm and before I could protest, he pulled me into a hug.

"I'm such an ass Emma," my brother admitted.

I nodded against his chest and pure happiness at his declaration consumed me.

"I know," I said softly, doing my best to stop the tears that were threatening to spill out of my eyes.

"You're my best friend and I should have believed what you said about Doctor Nond right away," Emmet told me. "Thinking back to what I said to you yesterday… God Emma, I just wanted to Bryon to clock me for it. He probably will, if you told him what happened."

I chuckled, "Don't worry, I won't say a word. We can put this all behind us Emmet. I understand that you just lost control."

_Wow,_ _it was almost too easy to forgive him…_

_ But, why can't you and your dad forgive one another?_ My brain mocked me.

_Because I'm not the wrong one_, _he's wrong and he needs to admit that,_ I thought stubbornly.

Emmet checked his wrist watch and, interrupting my internal argument, pointed out,

"It's been twelve hours since we got into a fight," he smiled warmly at me, "It is way too hard to stay mad at you Emma."

I laughed. I really couldn't believe how fast this had all come. We were furious with one another a few minutes ago and now here I was laughing at one of his jokes. How could that be possible? My chest felt tighten with overwhelming emotion and I had to make a corny joke to cover it up, "Who could possibly stay mad at this beautiful face?" I grinned cockily up at him and let the relief wash completely over me. Something in my family life had finally worked out. It was nothing short of a miracle.

_Maybe someone up there wants me to be happy after all,_ I thought referring to a divine power.

Emmet rolled his eyes and shoved me lightly.

"Go back to your apartment Emma. One of us should be escaping the clutch of a hospital for once," my twin told me with a small smile and then added in a serious tone, "I'll call you if anything changes around here. I promise."

I nodded and hugged my brother again, this time more tightly.

"Make sure Grandpa doesn't die," I begged in a voice that sounded so vulnerable that I swore it couldn't be mine.

Emmet released me from the hug and looked down at me with green eyes that matched my own. He gave me his best reassuring smile, before he told me in a firm, confident tone that was so unlike the awkward, hesitant brother that I knew from my childhood,

"He's in good hands here Emma. Trust me,"

And I did trust him, because even though I still saw glimmers of the kid in my twin that I grew up with, I could now finally see the man in him. The Emmet I knew now was a secure young doctor. The Emmet I knew now was able to speak his mind freely. The Emmet I knew now was a lot stronger and I knew that he was more than good enough to take care of my Grandpa Baird.

I left the hospital a little more at ease.

* * *

When I arrived back at my apartment, I was surprised to see that there was a soft glow of light was illuminating the space. The television was still on, but at a very low volume. I wondered which one of my roommates couldn't sleep.

"Teddy? Hill?" I called out in a whisper, not wanting to wake whoever really was sleeping in the next room.

"Queenscove, did you go out for drinks without me?" A familiar drawl answered me from my couch.

I rolled my eyes.

"What are you doing up Hill?" I demanded.

He ignored my question.

"Seriously, I'm offended. I'm supposed to be your wing man, so you don't make any drunken love confessions to your boss. Please tell me that you managed not to embarrass yourself without your safety net or work is going to be _so_ awkward tomorrow,"

I let out a sigh of frustration.

"I didn't go out drinking Hill,"

"Holy crap, you confessed to Nond sober?"

"Look, you nosey bastard," I said in a heated whisper and felt my level of annoyance surge, "I didn't go out drinking and I didn't go out to see Doctor Nond. It has nothing to do with either of those things, so just drop it. Okay?"

Without replying, Hill got up from the couch and walked over to me. I watched with apprehension as his eyes scanned my body up and down and then to my disgust, he sniffed in my direction.

"What the hell are you doing, you creep?"

Once again, he ignored me.

"Let's see. No makeup, no special attention to your hair, clothing is casual at best and you smell of disinfectant," he observed. "You've been to the hospital," I opened my mouth to deny this accusation, but he kept going, "The question though is why did you go? You aren't on call to my knowledge and I'm sure that none of your patients have your personal phone number," Hill scoffed, "I certainly couldn't see you giving it to that amnesia brat. She'd probably leave you death threats in your voicemail box. So, you were at a different hospital," my face paled and Hill jumped right on that, "Ah, you were and that only leaves one place in LA. Why'd you pay a visit to Daddy at three in the morning Queenscove?"

I swore heavily at him.

"Bup, bup, bup," he silenced me. "You should be praising my good detective work, not cursing it."

"Maybe you should become a cop then. You'd be a lot better at that, than you'd ever be as a doctor," I retorted scathingly. "You can't even place a Swan yet." I added referring to the catheter that was inserted into the pulmonary artery to measure arterial pressure.

Calling Hill out on not being able to do that procedure was my weak attempt to make him argue with me about a different topic. Hill was one of the last people in the world I wished to discuss my family with. However, I would have to say that my attending, Doctor Nond, topped that list without any doubt.

"Don't insult me when you only got it last week," Hill warned me. "You know that the only intern that should consider a career change is sleeping the room next to us."

"Leave Teddy alone," I snapped.

Hill rolled his eyes.

"Yes Mommy," he said mockingly. "But seriously, what did your Dad want from you Queenscove?"

"I don't see how that is any of you damn business," I snarled, upset that he returned to the original topic.

"God, you're such a stubborn bitch. You know that, right?" Hill shot back. I opened my mouth to protest, but he continued, "Now, before you flip out on me, let's lay out the stone cold truth down on the table Queenscove- I'm probably your closest friend at Mercy General besides that chirpy nurse and I doubt you leak any of your Daddy issues to her. Yes, it's very sad for you, but it's the truth," I scowled, "I know deep down inside you want to tell me why you visited Daddy's hospital, so why don't you do yourself and me a favor and just spill already."

I glared at him and he glared just as fiercely right back at me.

"You aren't going to stop annoying me until I tell you, are you?" I asked.

"Nope,"

I sighed wearily. I might as well just tell him so I could get some sleep before my early shift tomorrow. I risked losing some of my dignity, but I would trade it for the extra rest that would get me through the next day. It was a necessary evil.

"Fine, I was at Queenscove Medical center because my Grandpa Baird had a MI last night," I admitted begrudgingly. I really didn't like opening up to a person I deeply hated.

"Is he okay?" Hill asked. The usual mask of indifference had slipped and under it showed his rare concern.

"I hope so," I said and held back my surprise at the thought of a caring Hill. It was like Doctor Nond calling my father his best friend. It just didn't happen, "I did have to resuscitate him while I was there."

"Holy shit," Hill swore, "that's pretty hardcore Queenscove, even for you."

I nodded.

"My dad was pretty pissed off though," I added and wondered why I was telling him so much.

"He's a dick," Hill declared.

I gazed at him suspiciously. Why was Hill suddenly buttering me up? I wanted to pursue this, but I really had no energy left in the tank to argue with my fellow intern, so I just told him,

"I have to go to bed. I have an 8 A.M. tomorrow."

"I'll take it," Hill offered.

"It's your day off tomorrow!" I protested, very confused.

"So?"

"Why the hell are you being so nice to me?" I demanded to know.

"Is it a crime now to be nice to someone?"

"Nice and your name don't belong in the same sentence," I reminded him, "What in the world has gotten into you?"

"I found God?" Hill joked.

"Seriously Hill," I said firmly. My voice was strained.

My roommate sighed.

"I'm trying out a new attitude," Hill admitted. "Doctor Nond is a bastard, but you still like him a lot. I'm wondering if I could achieve the same thing."

"Are you unhappy?" I asked him and actually felt troubled. Sure, Hill was a big jerk, but he was my big jerk. I thought he was okay with his life. I didn't realize he might be lonely.

"No," he said, but I think he was lying, "but I'm trying to grow up, even if it's only a little,"

"I'm proud of you Hill," I told him and for the first time, I willingly pulled him into a hug.

"You're still a bitch," Hill reminded me, his breath hot on my ear.

"And you're still an asshole," I shot right back, holding back a chuckle.

"But we're getting better, I hope," Hill told me, as I released him.

I rolled my eyes.

"Way too sappy Hill," I warned him. "I still think you have ulterior motives, but I will allow you to take my shift tomorrow," I then took a deep breath and added through gritted teeth, as if it pained me to show gratefulness towards my fellow intern, "Thank you very much,"

"Anytime," Hill said and turned to go back to his room.

"You better not be asking for sex in a week in return for this," I called out to his retreating form.

"That's something I can't promise," my roommate retorted.

"Fuck you Hill,"

"Right back atcha' Queenscove,"

* * *

That morning it was quiet in the apartment. Hill and Teddy were both at the hospital, so I had the whole place to myself. I made breakfast, a good one for once because I felt like treating myself after a horrible day yesterday. After digging into my ham and cheese omelet, I took a long, hot shower, did my hair for once just to raise my self esteem and sat down at the kitchen table to catch up with some of the discharge summaries I was behind on. I worked for an hour, before my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Emma, it's me," my brother's voice was on the other end.

My heart rate increased immediately.

"What is it? Did something happen to Grandpa?" I asked, panicked.

"No, no, no," Emmet repeated to reassure me. "Grandpa's doing fine; actually he's doing more than fine. He's awake and he is asking for you."

"Me?" I blurted out in shock. "Why is he asking for me?"

"Well, I may have let it slip how you saved his life last night," my twin confessed.

"Emmet!" I cried.

"What? There is nothing wrong with telling him that," my brother protested. "I would like you to come home and for our family to be whole again. Why not start with making peace with Grandpa?"

"Fine, I'll be over in twenty minutes," I told him. "Bye,"

I hung up the phone and then allowed myself to take a deep breath as every nerve in my body began to tingle. I couldn't believe that this was actually happening. My Grandpa Baird and I might be finally at the point where we could forgive one another. I hoped more than anything that this wasn't a trick. I really, really hoped that he wouldn't yell at me like my father had. I don't know if I could handle it.

Twenty minutes later found me riding up the elevator to the fourth floor of Queenscove Medical Center. There was a new admitting nurse at the desk this morning to gawk at me, along with a lot more doctors. I ignored their stares and whispers the best I could and when I got off the elevator, I practically ran to my Grandpa Baird's room to escape them all.

My heart thumped against my chest. It had been a lot easier to go inside Room 422 last night, when my Grandpa had been unconscious. Now, I was going to talk to him, face-to-face for the first time in months. I was undeniably nervous, but I knew I had to muster my courage up and just walk in there. He was a frail man in a hospital bed. What was the worst he could do to me, right?

I knocked timidly on the door and waited for a response.

"Come in," I heard my Grandpa Baird's smooth voice call.

_Well, here goes nothing_, I thought, swallowed my nerves and walked inside.

"Hi Grandpa," I greeted apprehensively and I was on complete edge to what would come next.

"Emma, my girl, come in. Don't be shy," he said jovially with a small wave of his wrinkled hand.

I released the breath that I hadn't realized I had been holding.

"How are you feeling?" I asked him, slowly approaching his bed. He certainly looked a lot better than he did last night. Some of his color had returned and he no longer had a stone, deadish look to him.

"I feel alright. I'm alive and that's all that matters," my Grandpa told me. "Come closer Emma! I don't bite. I want a hug from my granddaughter," he added when I still stood a few feet from his bed.

Holding back tears- _My mother's people do not cry_, I reminded myself- I hugged my Grandpa Baird tightly. He rubbed comforting circles into my back and I instantly felt at home again.

"I missed you Grandpa," I admitted.

"I missed you too Emma," my Grandpa's eyes, which were a darker shade of green than my own, were shining with unshed tears. "I'm sorry for trying to control you. It's your life and you should be allowed to intern at any teaching hospital that you like."

"Thanks Grandpa," I choked out.

"Are you at least happy at Mercy General?" he asked.

"Very,"

"Good, that's all that matters," my Grandpa Baird told me.

I smiled at him and he smiled right back at me. I felt warmth blanket me. It felt good to be loved by my Grandpa again.

"They certainly have taught you right at that hospital Emma," my Grandpa told me. "Thank you so much for saving my life last night. I can never repay you."

I blushed.

"I didn't do it all on my own. Maggie, Jackie and Carol helped," I protested, naming off the nurses, who had pushed in the crash cart.

"Don't worry, I thanked them all already," Grandpa Baird informed me, "But I will never forget that you were the one who pressed those paddles to my chest and gave me life again. In my book, that deserves extra thanks."

I blushed again.

"I was just doing what I was trained to do," I reminded him.

My Grandpa Baird shook his head.

"Modest, just like your twin brother," he said. "I wished your father possessed as much modesty as you two did at his age. He would have saved himself a lot of pain from General Wyldon."

_The Stump_, I added in my mind for my father's sake.

"Have you talked to your father recently?" my Grandpa Baird inquired.

"Last night, he came in after I resuscitated you," I told him hesitantly. I didn't really wish to go into much detail, but my Grandpa pressed,

"Ah, was the conversation pleasant?"

"Um, not exactly," I admitted. "A lot of yelling, name calling, et cetera,"

"I'm sorry Emma," my Grandpa Baird apologized and it sounded very sincere. "We were both being insufferable about the situation. Your father still is. I will try to talk him around once my heart is feeling up to it. You know how Neal is when he is being pigheaded."

"It's alright Grandpa. You don't have to do that for me," I insisted, "He'll come around eventually,"

"Don't worry Emma. I will anyway. I owe you that much," my Grandpa Baird told me. "Consider trying to reason with your father my full apology."

I chuckled, thinking about how stubborn my father was.

"Good luck with that one," I said with a smile.

"Thanks, I'll need all the luck I can get. As you're fully aware, your father is one giant Meathead," my Grandpa reminded me and I burst out laughing. I had never heard my Grandpa Baird use Uncle Dom's nickname for my father before. It was quite amusing.

"So, why don't you tell me what you've been up to the last few months?" my Grandpa asked, clearly interested in what I had to say.

For the next hour, my Grandpa Baird and I caught up. I told him almost everything about my life (Leaving out the crush on my attending and my general interactions with Hill. Both were way too inappropriate to discuss with my Grandpa). In return, my Grandpa discussed his own retirement. He didn't have too many tales, but he had recently taken a trip to a medical conference in New York City, which was interesting to hear about.

Someone knocked on the door and we both looked up to see who it was.

"Baird is this a bad time?" a friendly looking man in a white coat stood at the door.

"No, no, come in Henry," my Grandpa Baird waved the blonde haired doctor in. "Emma this is Queenscove Medical Center's cardiologist, Henry Dunlath," I stood up and shook hands with the man, who was probably in his mid forties, "Henry, this is my granddaughter, Doctor Emma Queenscove. She is an intern in internal medicine at Mercy General."

"Very nice to meet you Doctor Queenscove," Doctor Dunlath said with a small smile.

"You too Doctor Dunlath," I told him, before turning to my Grandpa, "Maybe it's time for me to go Grandpa. I think Doctor Dunlath wants to discuss a few things with you."

Doctor Dunlath nodded in my direction.

"I actually do. Is that alright Baird?" he asked. "I don't want to interrupt anything."

"Don't worry it's fine Grandpa. I need to run some errands anyway," I added.

"If you're sure Emma," my Grandpa said.

"Yes, I'll come back to visit soon. As soon as I get my work schedule straightened out, alright?" I promised him and then leaned over to give him another hug and kissed his cheek. "Bye Grandpa,"

"Bye Emma,"

After bidding Doctor Dunlath farewell, I exited Room 422 and headed towards the elevator. Luckily, I didn't run into my father and after pressing the 'down' button the doors of the elevator sprung open a minute later.

"Doctor Queenscove, what a pleasant surprise,"

A familiar curvaceous brunette was lounging casually against the back wall of the elevator. I felt my hands clench into fists and my face twist into a scowl, as my annoyance level spiked through the roof. Doctor Mimi Eldorne, my attending's ex-wife, noticed this and flashed me a grin.

"Doctor Eldorne," I returned the greeting coolly and stepped into the elevator.

"Have you gotten Jamie yet?" the dermatologist asked me, not bothering with formalities.

I ignored her.

"I'm going to take that as a no," Mimi said with a smirk that made me want to punch her face in. "I warned you that he wouldn't have you. Jamie Nond does not date rich brats with connections; especially one's that share your last name."

"I was sure that Doctor Nond wouldn't marry a woman whose last name is Satan either," I shot right back.

"Clever," she retorted dryly. "You have a lot of nerves for a measly intern."

"So what? You have double the amount of bitch cells than an average human being," I countered. "I guess we'll just both have to live with being scientific anomalies, won't we?" I added with a sneer. I was not intimidated by Mimi Eldorne in the slightest. She was subhuman compared to me.

Doctor Eldorne glared fiercely at me.

"It doesn't matter how loyal you are to Jamie, you slut. He won't ever want you. You disgust him," she spat at me viciously.

"Slut? You're calling me a slut?" I laughed blatantly in her face. "Christ, you cheated on your husband, had another man's baby, told your husband that it was his and then left him and you have the audacity to call me a slut? You're just not a slut Eldorne, you're a filthy whore."

"How dare you, you bitch!" she suddenly screeched and raised her hand to slap me. I deflected the blow easily. She clearly did not know the first thing about fighting.

"Whore!" I repeated forcefully and shoved her against the elevator wall.

Doctor Eldorne screamed in fury and then started to charge me. At this point, I wanted to hit her very badly and so I did. Before the dermatologist could reach me, my fist collided with her nose. The force of the blow sent her sprawling backwards and she ended up lying on her back on the tiled floor. She was still conscious, but her nose was bleeding profusely. I hoped I had broken it.

"Don't ever call me a slut again," I warned her, before the door dinged open.

I stepped out of the elevator and strode through the E.R. to the exit, ignoring everyone's gawking. A minute later, I got in my car, but I didn't start it right away. I decided to let my breathing and heart rate return to normal first. While waiting, I looked down at my hands and noticed that my knuckles were still red from hitting Mimi Eldorne. I know what I had done was unprofessional and immature, but it had felt so good.

_ Someone should have clocked that bitch a long time ago_, I thought viciously.

Finally, my vitals returned to normal and I made the drive back to my apartment. I parked my car in the garage, took the elevator up to the sixth floor and pulled out my key. After jamming it into the lock, I turned the handle and let myself inside.

The television was on, just like how it had been last night when I came in late. I wondered which one of my roommates could possibly have returned from the hospital. They were both still supposed to be on shift.

"Hello?" I called out.

"Hello Greeny," Doctor Nond got off of my couch and began walking towards me. My body betrayed my nervousness. My heart immediately began pounding in my chest and blood rushed to my face. What the heck was my attending doing in my apartment?

"Who let you in here?" I demanded to know.

"Scaredy cat intern forked over the key after I threatened him with bed pan duty for a month," my attending told me. "It was too easy."

_Oh Teddy,_ I thought with a sigh.

"What do you want?" I asked, ignoring the butterflies in my stomach.

"I want to know why you left your shift early yesterday and didn't show up this morning," he said with a stern expression on his face. It was meant to intimidate me, but at this point not much about Jamie Nond frightened me.

"Why does it matter? I got Doctor Hill and Doctor Jeslaw to cover me on both occasions. It's not like I left you hanging out to dry," I reminded him.

"They're both incompetent," Doctor Nond complained and I rolled my eyes.

_Could he be more of a baby?_

"Just in case you forgot, Mercy General is a teaching hospital," I told him, starting to feel annoyed. "It's your job to teach Hill and Teddy not to be incompetent, remember?"

"Stop being a pert," my attending snapped at me. "You know teaching isn't the only thing I do at that hell hole of a hospital. I also save lives, _remember_?" he added mockingly.

"How could I forget? You brag about it all the time," I shot back angrily.

"Seriously Greeny, what's wrong? It's not like you to skip work," my attending asked after running a hand through his blonde hair. I knew he did that when he felt extra stressed.

"I've been busy," I said flatly.

"Busy doing what? Getting a manicure and a facial done?" Doctor Nond questioned me and I knew he was starting to get angry too. "You're patients need you princess. You can't just take a break whenever you freakin' feel like it."

"Screw you, you don't know anything," I growled at him.

"No, I don't because you refuse to tell me!" Doctor Nond retorted. "Is it your family? Is that what's bothering you? Because your brother is a jackass Greeny, you shouldn't listen to anything he says."

I took a deep breath. It was useless arguing with the man, so I might as well tell him the truth.

"My Grandpa Baird had a MI last night," I admitted. "He's in the ICU at Queenscove Medical Center. I visited him around two in the morning and I just came back from visiting him again. So, that is why I didn't come to work today. Happy now?"

There was a long silence between us, before my attending asked,

"Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he should be fine."

"Good," Doctor Nond said with sincerity. It was a rare moment of sympathy for him and what was even more surprising was that the sympathy was directed towards my family.

I nodded as a 'thanks' and then went over to my sink to pour myself a glass of water. My mouth was nearly bone dry. I didn't know if it was a result from my fight with Mimi Eldorne or the fact that my attending and I were in my apartment, alone.

After I took a few sips, I informed Doctor Nond, "I did have to resuscitate my Grandpa last night," My attending did well on holding back his surprise, but I still saw his eyebrows shoot up a little. I then took a deep breath and continued on, "I know it wasn't ethical at all; you know, the whole practicing medicine on a family member thing, but unfortunately, I was the only person with an MD on the floor at the time, so I really had no choice in the matter," I took another sip of water, "Everything went smoothly, thank god or my dad would of killed me. Then again, I guess that doesn't matter because he got really pissed off at me anyway."

At the last part, my attending's brown eyes flashed dangerously.

"What? Why the hell would he be angry with you?" Doctor Nond demanded to know.

"I was breaking 'hospital rules'," I told him sourly.

"What an ass," my attending muttered.

"I think it was an excuse just to be mad at me," I admitted. "I don't think he's ready to say he's sorry yet."

"Coward," Doctor Nond muttered and ran a hand through his hair.

Silence fell between us once again. I leaned against the counter and waited for what my attending would say next, but the man just glared at the ground. There was a scowl on his face and I saw that his lips were moving; he was probably muttering curses under his breath. I knew that Doctor Nond yearned to explode with hatred towards my father, but he was swallowing it all down for my sake. I was very grateful for this.

"Do you want anything to eat? Drink?" I asked.

"No, I really should be getting back to the hospital," my attending admitted and then he asked me, "Are you coming back tomorrow?"

"I don't know. Maybe," I replied.

I was hoping to call my brother about what the cardiologist had told my Grandpa Baird today before making a decision. If it was good news, I would go back to work, but if my Grandpa needed surgery, I would request the day off from Doctor Naxen.

"As much as it pains me to say this Greeny, I need you to come in tomorrow," Doctor Nond told me.

"You need me? Shocking," I shot back playfully.

"I'm not joking around princess," my attending growled. "I'm a finalist for 'The Best Doctor in the State' award again-"

"Congratulations Doctor Nond, that's great news!" I cut in excitedly.

"Thanks, but the point is the judges are coming tomorrow to shadow me,"

I didn't understand what he was getting at.

"So?"

"I need you to be there. I need your help winning this thing."

I stared at him, shocked at this revelation. Doctor Nond had been passionate about winning this award from the moment I met him. He originally thought my internship at Mercy General was only to ruin him and his chances of finally capturing the honors of being the best doctor in the state. Of course, I had eventually changed his mind about me being a spy and whatnot, but still, I didn't think I would reach the moment where he would trust me and my doctoring abilities completely. I didn't think it was possible. There had to be a catch. There just had to be.

"Don't get me wrong Doctor Nond, I'm absolutely honored that you said you needed me, but let's be honest- you've never needed me before. In fact, the first time you met me you tried to get rid of me because you thought I would get in your way," I reminded him. "It's just really weird that you would ask me, your rival's daughter of all people, to help you win the competition you thought I was going to sabotage for you in the first place."

My attending exhaled noisily.

"Good lord Greeny, I can actually feel my blood pressure actually rising," Doctor Nond growled. "Can't you just do this one thing for me and not overanalyze it for once?"

"I never said I wasn't doing it," I pointed out.

"Fine, then why all the extra crap?" my attending demanded to know.

"It's just not like you to ask me for help, outside of doing minor procedures of course," I quickly added. I didn't want Doctor Nond to take away that privilege from me, "I'm just really confused about your motives. Does it have to do with my Dad?" I questioned him, "Because if it does, I don't want you using me to help with the competition just to mess with my dad's head. We might not be on speaking terms, but that doesn't mean I don't love him."

He rolled his eyes.

"I know this might be hard for you to believe, but not everything in this world revolves around your daddy Queenscove," my attending retorted.

I scowled and crossed my arms over my chest defiantly.

"_Fine_, then please enlighten me about your real motives,"

"I thought that would be obvious," Doctor Nond said. "My motives are identical to anyone who is engaged in competition Greeny. My motives are to win."

I sighed exasperatedly, "But why do you need _me _to win?"

He suddenly looked uncomfortable.

"You're my lucky charm?" my attending offered weakly.

"You don't believe in luck," I countered swiftly.

Doctor Nond apparently didn't have any other made up excuses. Instead, he inhaled deeply and I saw his brown eyes glance quickly at the door, as if he was looking for an escape route. Thirty seconds of silence had gone by and I was starting to get impatient,

"Well?" I asked. "Let's hear it. I wanna' hear why you really need me."

"Fine, you prissy little girl," he muttered darkly.

He took another ten seconds, ran a hand through his blonde hair once more and then started to talk,

"Look, I can't really explain it well, but when you're with me on rounds… I- I just do better. I'm a better person, a better doctor," Doctor Nond admitted. "I don't know why. It just happens," I gaped at him in shock. That wasn't the answer I was expecting. It was just so personal and my attending was one of the least personal people I knew, "So there. That is why I need you. You make me good enough to win this competition by just being there. Does that satisfy all your stupid insecurities?"

I grinned.

"Yep," I told him cheerfully.

"God, you're such a pain," my attending muttered.

"But, despite that, you still keep me around," I reminded him smugly.

"I must be drugged," Doctor Nond said. "Greg must slip something into my coffee every morning. That's why I haven't come to my senses and thrown you off my service yet."

"Please, I'm the bright light of your day," I retorted. "You _need_ me."

"Tell that to anyone and I will kill you," my attending threatened.

I pulled out my pager and smirked at him.

"Give me a sec, I just gotta' send Doctor Cooper a page," I joked.

"Queenscove, you are as good as dead," Doctor Nond growled and made a lunge for my pager. I stepped out of his reach and scampered behind the kitchen counter. We now stood at opposite sides with the hunk of wood and marble separating us like a small wall.

"Hey Doctor Copper, Doctor Nond can only be a great doctor when I'm by his side. Can you believe that?" I said out loud and pretended to type it, while holding back my laughter at the sight of my attending's face reddening.

"Greeny!" Doctor Nond shouted and chased after me.

I burst out laughing as I ran in the opposite direction towards my couch. Unfortunately, Doctor Nond had caught up with me and grabbed me from behind by the waist . I let out a shriek as he pried the pager out of my hands.

"Let me see that," he muttered and after a few seconds of inspection of the tiny black box he glared at me, "You didn't even send it!"

"Good god and you called me a prissy little girl?" I rolled my eyes. "I was just kidding around Doctor Nond! Loosen up. I'm not that bitchy that I would tell Cooper. Your secret is safe with me."

My attending smiled sheepishly and handed me back the pager.

"Sorry about that," he said. "I guess I got a little carried away."

"A little?" I teased, "It's fine. Don't worry about it."

"Thanks," he then checked his wristwatch. "Well, I've gotta' head back to the hospital. I've left Doctor Hill and Mrs. Thompson by themselves for far too long now."

"Doesn't Mrs. Thompson have explosive diarrhea?" I asked and scrunched up my nose in disgust.

My attending smirked.

"Yep, that's the one," Doctor Nond said almost with a hint of glee, "I'm sure you're roommate is having a fantastic time with her."

"I can only imagine,"

Hill was going to butcher me later for this one.

"So, I'm going to see you bright and early tomorrow, right?" my attending asked, as he headed for the exit. I followed closely behind him.

"You betcha' Doctor Nond," I said and held my apartment door open for him, while he stepped out into the hallway.

"Thanks Greeny, I really appreciate it," Doctor Nond told me. "Remember to get some rest and I'll see you in the morning,"

"Okay, I will," I said and gave him a short wave, "Goodbye Doctor Nond,"

"Bye Queenscove,"

I watched my attending turn and leave and once he was out of sight, I closed the door.

_Well that was enlightening,_ I thought and then sighed.

I had a lot to process.

* * *

A/N: Wow, it's been four months. Time flies when college owns your soul.

Medical Terminology:

MI- Myocardial Infarction (heart attack)

Questions that you might be pondering after reading…

1) How many chapters are left in this story? Two

2) Am I (the author) done with school? Yes, I have the whole summer to finish this story. Horray!

3) Why the inclusion of Mimi Eldorne? I thought that Emma needed revenge against Doctor Nond's ex-wife. Mimi had taken advantage of our protagonist in the 3rd chapter and I think Emma needed to get the last word in (and the last hit). In their first meet up, Mimi had won their argument, but evil should never be allowed to conquer. So, I thought I would tie up the Mimi-Emma story line. Mimi will not be making any more physical appearances for the rest of the story, but I can guarantee you that Emma's punch will definitely be brought up in the next chapter. In fact, it will play a crucial role in Emma and Doctor Nond's relationship.

4) Why is Neal such a jerk in this story? Yes, I realize my Neal is OC. In this chapter though, his attitude towards Emma was not entirely fueled by their argument that sparked the main conflict in this story (Emma working at Mercy General). Neal was very worried about his father's health and by arguing with Emma, I would like to think that he was unleashing some of his pent up stress upon her involuntarily. Neal, I think is just feeling betrayed by his daughter and doesn't fully comprehend Emma's reasoning about why she's working at Mercy General. He thinks Emma's decision is a personal attack on himself, but it really isn't. Neal, as we all know is extremely stubborn (like his daughter), but hopefully he will see the light in the next two chapters.

5) Why does Emma criticize her twin and her family for overanalyzing everything in her life and then overanalyzed why Doctor Nond 'needed her'? Doesn't that make her a hypocrite? It definitely does, but I guess overanalyzing things runs in the Queenscove family. Who knew?

A/N: As always I would like to thank my lovely reviewers. Without you guys I wouldn't have the motivation to finish up these extremely long chapters. Thanks to- .A.F., Whispering to the Winds, Romantic Haberdashery, xXthenextbookwormXx, studentofwords, Tishica, Kailun, and The Other Person. You guys are awesome! Thanks!

So, I thank everyone who managed to get through 10,000+ words! All reviews (especially one's that contain constructive criticism) are appreciated dearly. Until next time.


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